• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 292 0

and princes, all those who once wore kingly crowns and ruled the world in the days of old. They who had stood in the place of the gods like Anu and Enlil, stood now like servants to fetch baked meats in the house of dust, to carry cooked meat and cold water from the water-skin. In the house of dust which I entered were high priests and acolytes, priests of the incantation and of ecstasy; there were servers of the temple, and there was Etana, that king of Kish whom the eagle carried to heaven in the days of old. I saw also Samuqan, god of cattle, and there was Ereshkigal the Queen of the Underworld; and Belit-Sheri squatted in front of her, she who is recorder of the gods and keeps the book of death. She held a tablet from which she read. She raised her head, she saw me and spoke:“ Who has brought this one here?” Then I awoke like a man drained of blood who wanders alone in a waste of rushes; like one whom the bailiff has seized and his heart pounds with terror.’

Gilgamesh had peeled off his clothes, he listened to his words and wept quick tears, Gilgamesh listened and his tears flowed. He opened his mouth and spoke to Enkidu: ‘Who is there in strong-walled Uruk who has wisdom like this? Strange things have been spoken, why does your heart speak strangely? The dream was marvellous but the terror was great; we must treasure the dream whatever the terror; for the dream has shown that misery comes at last to the healthy man, the end of life is sorrow.’ And Gilgamesh lamented, ‘Now I will pray to the great gods, for my friend had an ominous dream.’

This day on which Enkidu dreamed came to an end and be lay stricken with sickness. One whole day he lay on his bed and his suffering increased. He said to Gilgamesh, the friend on whose account he had left the wilderness, ‘Once I ran for you, for the water of life, and I now have nothing.’ A second day he lay on his bed and Gilgamesh watched over him but the sickness increased. A third day he lay on his bed, he called out to Gilgamesh, rousing him up. Now he was weak and his eyes were blind with weeping. Ten days he lay and his suffering increased, eleven and twelve days he lay on his bed of pain. Then he called to Gilgamesh, ‘My friend, the great goddess cursed me and I must die in shame. I shall not die like a man fallen in battle; I feared to fall, but happy is the man who falls in the battle, for I must die in shame.’ And Gilgamesh wept over Enkidu. With the first light of dawn he raised his voice and said to the counsellors of Uruk:

‘Hear me, great ones of Uruk,

I weep for Enkidu, my friend,

Bitterly moaning like a woman mourning

I weep for my brother.

O Enkidu, my brother,

You were the axe at my side,

My hand’s strength, the sword in my belt,

The shield before me,

A glorious robe, my fairest ornament;

An evil Fate has robbed me.

The wild ass and the gazelle

That were father and mother,

All long-tailed creatures that nourished you

Weep for you,

All the wild things of the plain and pastures;

The paths that you loved in the forest of cedars

Night and day murmur.

Let the great ones of strong-walled Uruk

Weep for you;

Let the finger of blessing

Be stretched out in mourning;

Enkidu, young brother. Hark,

There is an echo through all the country

Like a mother mourning.

Weep all the paths where we walked together;

And the beasts we hunted, the bear and hyena,

Tiger and panther, leopard and lion,

The stag and the ibex, the bull and the doe.

The river along whose banks we used to walk,

Weeps for you,

Ula of Elam and dear Euphrates

Where once we drew water for the water-skins.

The mountain we climbed where we slew the Watchman,

Weeps for you.

The warriors of strong-walled Uruk

Where the Bull of Heaven was killed,

Weep for you.

All the people of Eridu

Weep for you Enkidu.

Those who brought grain for your eating

Mourn for you now;

Who rubbed oil on your back

Mourn for you now;

Who poured beer for your drinking

Mournforyou now.

The harlot who anointed you with fragrant ointment

Laments for you now;

The women of the palace, who brought you a