The gods of haven, the lords of initiative, To their complaint the goddess paid heed. The warrior’s daughter, the young man’s bride, It is he who is shepherd of Uruk-the-Sheepfold, Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father.īy day and by night his tyranny grows harsher, The young men of Uruk he harries without warrant, His companions are kept on their feet by his contests. He has no equal when his weapons are brandished, Like a wild bull lording it, head held aloft. When he grew tall his beauty was consummate,īy earthly standards he was most handsome. While his build was perfected by divine Nudimmud.Ī triple cubit was his foot, half a rod his leg. It was the Lady of the Gods drew the form of his figure, Two-thirds of him god and one third human. Gilgamesh was his name from the day he was born, Who is there can rival his kingly standing,Īnd say like Gilgamesh, ‘It is I am the king’? Who restored the cult-centers destroyed by the Deluge,Īnd set in place for the people the rites of the cosmos. Who scoured the world ever searching for life,Īnd reached through sheer force Uta-napishti the Distant Who dug wells on the slopes of the uplands,Īnd crossed the ocean, the wide sea to the sunrise Gilgamesh the tall, magnificent and terrible, Suckling of the august Wild Cow, the goddess Ninsun! Wild bull of Lugalbanda, Gilgamesh, the perfect in strength, Going at the rear, one his comrades could trust!Ī violent flood-wave, smashing a stone wall! Surpassing all other kings, heroic in stature,īrave scion of Uruk, wild bull on the rampage! The travels of Gilgamesh, all that he went through. up the tablet of lapis lazuli and read out city, [a square mile [date-grove, a square mile isĬlay-pit, half a quarter mile the temple of Ishtar: Survey its foundations, examine the brickwork!ĭid the Seven Sages not lay its foundation? He built the rampart of Uruk-the-Sheepfold,ĭraw near to Eanna, seat of Ishtar the goddess,Ĭlimb Uruk’s wall and walk back and forth! He came a far road, was weary, found peace,Īnd set all his labors on a tablet of stone. © 1992 Ludmila Zeman, published by Tundra Books of Northern New York. Gilgamesh riding in chariot, from the book Gilgamesh the King, by Ludmila Zeman.
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