ENLIL of the mountain, the father of the gods, had decreed the destiny of Gilgamesh. So Gilgamesh dreamed and
Enkidu said, 'The meaning of the dream is this. The father of the gods has given you kingship, such is your destiny,
everlasting life is not your destiny. Because of this do not be sad at heart, do not be grieved or oppressed. He has given
you power to bind and to loose, to be the darkness and the light of mankind. He has given you unexampled supremacy
over the people, victory in battle from which no fugitive returns, in forays and assaults from which there is no going back.
But do not abuse this power, deal justly with your servants in the palace, deal justly before Shamash.'
The eyes of Enkidu were full of tears and his
heart was sick. He sighed bitterly and Gilgamesh met
his eye and said,' My friend, why do you sigh so
bitterly? But Enkidu opened his mouth and said, 'I am
weak, my arms have lost their strength, the cry of
sorrow sticks in my throat, I am oppressed by idleness.'
It was then that the lord Gilgamesh turned his thoughts
to the Country of the Living; on the Land of Cedars the
lord Gilgamesh reflected. He said to his servant
Enkidu, 'I have not established my name stamped on
bricks as my destiny decreed; therefore I will go to the
country where the cedar is felled. I will set up my
name in the place where the names of famous men are
written, and where- no man's name is written yet I will
wise a monument to the gods. Because o£ the evil that
is in the land, we will go to the forest and destroy the
evil; for in the forest lives Humbaba whose name is
"Hugeness", , a ferocious giant. But Enkidu sighed
bitterly and said, ‘When I went with the wild beasts
ranging through the wilderness I discovered the forest;
its length is ten thousand leagues in every direction.
Enlil has appointed Humbaba to guard it and armed
him iii sevenfold terrors, terrible to all flesh is
Humbaba. When he roars it is like the torrent of the
storm, his breath is like fire, and his jaws are death
itself. He guards the cedars so well that when the wild
heifer stirs in the forest, though she is sixty leagues
distant, he hears her. What man would willingly walk
YOU ARE READING
THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
FantasyTHE EPIC OF GILGAMESH is the earliest epic story in history