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 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LATUM SHIL GILGAMESH
EPIC OF GILGAMESH

Tablet 2:48
Tablet 2:99

appearance after your death.
49 Clothed only in a lionskin, he will roam the open country.
50 Enkidu listened to the speech of Shamash, the warrior.
51 His anger abated;
52 His heart became quiet.
53 Come, Shamhat, I shall change your fate!
54 My utterance, which cursed thou, shall bless you instead.
55 Governors and princes shall love you,
60 The single-league man shall smite his thigh for you.
61 The herdsman shall not hold back for you,
62 He shall undo his belt for you.
63 He shall give you ivory, lapis lazuli, and gold, rings and brooches shall be presents for you.
64 Rain shall pour down for him, his storage jars shall be heaped full.
65 The diviner shall lead you into the palace of the Anunnagi.
66 Because of you, the mother of seven, the honored wife, shall be deserted.
63 Then Enkidu wept, for he was sick at heart.
64 He lay down alone.
65 He spoke what was in his mind to his friend.
66 Listen again, my friend!
67 I had a dream in the shadow hour.
68 The sky called out, the Earth replied,
69 I was standing in between them.
70 There was a young man, whose face was obscured.
71 His face was like that of an Anzu-bird.
72 He had the paws of a lion, he had the claws of an eagle.
73 He seized me by my locks, using great force against me.
74 I hit him, and he jumped like a Keppu-toy, he hit me and forced me down,
75 Like a wild bull he trampled on me,
76 He squeezed my whole body.
77 I cried out: "save me, my friend, don't desert me!"
78 But you were afraid, and did not help me,
79 He hit me and turned me into a dove.
80 Turns my arms, like a bird. He seized me, drove me down to the dark house, dwelling of Erkalla's god,
81 To the house which those who enter canst not leave, on the road where travelling is one way only,
82 To the house where those who stay are deprived of light,
83 Where dust is their food, and clay their bread.
84 They are clothed, like birds, with feathers,
85 And they see no light, and they dwell in darkness.
86 Over the door and the bolt, dust hast settled.
87 I looked at the house that I had entered,
88 And crowns were heaped up.
89 Like those with crowns who had ruled the land from time immemorial,
90 Priests of ANU and Enlil regularly set out cooked meats,
91 Set out baked bread, set out cold water from waterskins.
92 In the house of dust that I had entered dwelt the Enu and Lagaru-priests,
93 Dwelt the Isippu and Lumahu-priests, dwelt the Gudaspu-priests of the great gods, dwelt Etana, dwelt Shakkan,
94 Dwelt Ereshkigal, the queen of Earth.
95 Belet-Seri, the scribe of Earth, was kneeling before her.
96 She was holding a tablet and kept reading aloud to her.
97 She raised her head and looked at me:
98 "Who brought this man?"
99 I experienced all kinds of troubles,