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 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LATUM SHIL GILGAMESH
EPIC OF GILGAMESH

Tablet 2:301
Tablet 2:345

the pine forest.
302 We killed lions at the mountain passes.
303 The alewife spoke to him, to Gilgamesh,
304 If you are truly Gilgamesh, that struck down the guardian,
305 Destroyed Humbaba, who lived in the pine forest,
306 Killed lions at the mountain passes,
307 Seized the bull of heaven who came down from the sky, struck him down,
308 Why are your cheeks wasted, your face dejected.
309 Your heart so wretched, your appearance worn out,
310 And grief in your innermost being?
311 Your face is like that of a long-distance traveller.
312 Your face is weathered by cold and heat.
313 Clad only in a lionskin you roam open country. Gilgamesh spoke to her, to Siduri the alewife,
314 How could my cheeks not be wasted, nor my face dejected,
315 Nor my heart wretched, nor my appearance worn out,
316 Nor grief in my innermost being,
317 Nor my face like that of a long-distance traveller,
318 Nor my face weathered by cold and heat,
319 Nor roaming open country, clad only in a lionskin?
320 My friend who I love so much, who experienced every hardship with me,
321 Enkidu, whom I love so much, who experienced every hardship with me,
322 The fate of mortals conquered him! 6 days and 7 shadow hours I wept over him,
323 I did not allow him to be buried, until a worm fell out of his nose.
324 I was frightened and I am afraid of death, and so I roam open country.
325 The words of my friend weigh upon me.
326 I roam open country for long distances; the words of my friend Enkidu weigh upon me.
327 I roam open country on long journeys.
328 How, O how could I stay silent, how, O how could I keep quiet?
329 Enkidu my friend who I love turned to clay.
330 Am I not like him? Must I lie down too,
331 Never to rise, ever again?
332 Gilgamesh spoke to her, to the alewife,
333 Now, Alewife, which is the way to Utnafishtim?
334 Give me directions, whatever they are; give me directions.
335 If it is possible, it shall cross the sea; if it is impossible I shall roam open country again.
336 The alewife spoke to him, to Gilgamesh,
337 There has never been a ferry of any kind, Gilgamesh,
338 And nobody from time immemorial has crossed the sea.
339 Shamash the warrior is the only one who has crossed the sea: Apart from Shamash, nobody has crossed the sea.
340 The crossing is difficult, the way of it very difficult,
341 And in between are lethal waters which bar the way ahead.
342 Wherever, then, could you cross the sea, Gilgamesh?
343 And once you reached the lethal waters, what would you do?
344 Yet there is, Gilgamesh, a boatman of Utnafishtim, Ur-Shanabi,
345 He the "things of stone" identify him, it will be trimming a young pine in the