Table X
Leaving the deceitful grove, Gilgamesh saw the great lower abyss, Ocean. He saw a cliff over the abyss, and a low house without windows and with a flat roof on the cliff. Gilgamesh saw that the doors of the house were closed, but someone’s breath inside was not hidden from his hearing – Who’s here? He asked loudly. – Go away, stranger! – a woman’s voice was heard. – There is no entrance for vagrants. Here I, the mistress of Siduri, accept the gods, welcoming them with sicera.
– I’m not an unknown vagabond, – the hero replied to the hostess, – although I have seen everything in the world. My name is Gilgamesh. I am from Uruk, which is glorified by me. With my friend Enkidu, we killed Humbaba the evil, who was a cedar forest guard. We also killed the bull that was sent to us from heaven. I scattered mighty lions, that have no memory and do not grieve like people. I am a God in two-thirds, and one-third I am a man. And the door immediately opened. The hostess came out of the house, said the following words:
– You, who killed Humbaba and the bull that was sent from heaven, why is your face gloomy? Why are your cheeks hollow? Why is your head drooping?
– How may my head not be drooping and my face not be faded, – Gilgamesh replied to the hostess, – if my friend Enkidu, with whom we shared our deeds, laid into the earth, if my younger brother, the great hunter of the desert, the persecutor of mountain onagers and spotted panthers, became dust? That is why, like a robber, I roam the desert. The thought of a deceased friend haunts me.
– I do not know what you are looking for?! – the hostess told to the hero. – I do not know what you are striving for! The gods, having created man, made him mortal. They retained their immortality. Leave the empty worries! Dispel the sad thoughts! Fill your stomach. Sit down with your friends! Let me fill the cup two-thirds for you, Gilgamesh.
– I don’t need your drink! I am not looking for your advice. Better tell me, mistress, how to cross this sea. The hostess speaks to the hero: – For centuries there has been no crossing. Shamash flies around the leaden waters of death like a bird, and Urshanabi the boatman floats in a boat that transports the dead people. He knows the way to Utnapishtim, which is the only one of the mortals who kept his life forever.
The hero said goodbye to the mistress, directing his feet to the forest. From the forest, he went out to the river and there he saw a boat and Urshanabi was in the boat. “Why you wander, lagging behind the dead people,” – Urshanabi said to the hero. – Sit down, I will take you to the kingdom of Death.
– I did not lag behind the dead people, – the hero answered Urshanabi. – Yes, my cheeks have withered and my head drooped. But my heart beats in the chest. Listen!
– What a miracle! – said Urshanabi. – The heart really beats. Why did you come here?
– I came, persecuted by sorrow, – Gilgamesh replied Urshanabi. – I want to find a friend and make him immortal. Now put me in the boat and take me to Utnapishtim. – Sit down! – said Urshanabi. – I’ll take you to Utnapishtim. Here is the pole. You can help, but don’t you touch the water, if you want to get to the place.
Gilgamesh put down his belt and, undressing, tied his clothes to the pole as to a mast. And the Urshanabi drove the boat so that Gilgamesh would not touch the deadly moisture with the pole.
Utnapishtim walks around the island surrounded by the waters of Death. For hundreds of years, he has been going around his possessions in the same, unchanged way. The sea of lead is motionless. Birds do not fly over the island. No fish will jump out of the wave. And no news comes to him from the country where he lived as a man. Only Urshanabi’s boat passes, and the souls of the dead people are in that boat. Following this boat with a glance, Utnapishtim learns that everything in the world is unchanged.
– Hey, wife! – Utnapishtim suddenly shouted. – What happened to my eyes? Look, this is Urshanabi’s boat. But a sail rises above it. It has never happened that any sail has been raised here.
– Do not worry, your eyes are sharp-sighted, – Utnapishtim’s wife answered – They are just as keen as they were in those years when you saw the mountain. And my eyes see the sail too. And a dead man holds this sail. Look how pale his cheeks are! A sailor drowned, probably someone who cannot live without a sail. And Urshanabi takes him to the country where the souls of the dead people are.
– You say what you do not know! – Utnapishtim said to his wife. – For many hundreds of years, I have been watching how the souls of the dead people are transported. Who hasn’t been here! The king was, and the plowman was, and the flutist was, and the blacksmith was, and the carpenter was. And they are transported without a crown, without a hoe, without a flute. Who will ask the dead what he likes and what he does not?
Gilgamesh comes ashore, leaving the boat. He walks, and it can be immediately seen that he is with a living soul and that he is not dead.
– What are you looking for? – asked Utnapishtim. – Why did you come here as if alive, on a boat for the dead? Why are your cheeks hollow? Why did your head drop? How did you come here, answer me!
– My name is Gilgamesh. I am from the city of Uruk that is far from here. I am a God in two-thirds, and I am a man in one-third. Together with my friend Enkidu, we killed Humbaba the evil, who was a cedar forest guard. But, saving me, Enkidu became a victim of the Death. And I’m looking for him around the world, going around all the seas and countries.
Utnapishtim shook his head and uttered a sad word:
– Why don’t you want to come to terms with the human pitiful share? A chair was not left for you at the meeting of the immortals. You must understand that the immortal gods are full-weight grains of wheat, but people are only chaff. Death gives no mercy to people. The human house will not last long. We do not put our signs on forever. Even our hatred is instantaneous…
Table XI
– Well, what about you? – Gilgamesh asked Utnapishtim. – You’re no better than me. When you are tired, you lie on your back. I’m not afraid to fight you. So tell me how have you succeed to become like the gods? How have you achieved immortal life?
– Well, – said Utnapishtim – I’ll reveal my secret. Once I had lived on the Euphrates. I am your fellow countryman and a distant ancestor. I am from the city of Shuruppak, which is well known to you. The gods had decided to exterminate the living on earth. At the meeting, they discussed among themselves. After this long dispute, their hearts bowed to the flood. Once they made their choice, they vowed to keep it a secret. And Ea (also known as Enki, the god of water) did not break that vow, despite I was kind to his heart.
And he did not tell this secret to me, but to my mute house: “The walls are reeds, hear me, the wall is smart, I give a sign. Your master, my faithful slave Shuruppak must leave you. He should build a ship, because аll that lives will expire from the flood. Let him immerse his goods, his people and silver”. I realized that it was light-eyed Ea, who gave the command to the wall how may I be saved. I made many sacrifices to Ea, so he chose me from among thousands. I began to build a ship, in a form of a box, with four corners standing out. I repaired the cracks in its walls and filled it with good resin. I divided the entire space into nine compartments and collected sweet water and food, preparing for a long siege.
And then, bringing all the animals in pairs, I filled the compartments with them so that they would not eat each other. I captured the craftsmen and their wives with their children. Finally, my family and I went up and closed the doors. When next morning rose, a cloud swam up. It was so black that the gods themselves were afraid.
The earth was numb. And then a downpour fell, pounding the roof mercilessly. Soon, I heard a crackling sound, as if the earth had split like a bowl. My ship was lifted in waves and driven by a whistling wind. Six days, seven nights carried and drove the ship across the sea. And then the wind and the stormy sea calmed down. I opened the window. Daylight shone on my face. The sea spread everywhere. I fell to my knees. I understood: humanity has returned to be clay. And then I saw Mount Nitsir in the open sea and sent the ship to it. The mountain kept him from swinging.
At the approach of the seventh day, I brought out the pigeon and let it go. Soon the pigeon returned back. I took out the swallow and let it go. Finding no place to sit, the swallow returned. I carried the crow out and let it go. The crow was the first to see the land. It did not return to the ship. That’s when I left the ship. Then I looked around all the directions of the world and offered a prayer to the immortals. I set up numerous incense burners, broke the odorous branches, reeds, myrtle, cedar, and lit it. And the gods smelled a smell that they almost forgot. And they flew like flies to honey, and surrounded the incense burners.
Ellil was alone unhappy that there were still living souls. My patron Ea reproached him: “You have staged a flood in vain. If there was a surplus of people, I would have let predatory lions on them. I could send diseases and hunger. Now you need to show Utnapishtim and his wife where they can live without knowing death.
Ellil came into the ship, where I hid from fear of the gods, and, taking the hand, brought me to the ground and said: – You were a man, Utnapishtim, and now with your wife you are like immortal gods. Far away, at the source of the streams is your home from now. There. And death will not find you.
Suddenly Gilgamesh fell asleep, and he did not hear the end of the story. Sleep breathed the smell of the desert into the hero. And the wife said to Utnapishtim: – Wake him up! Let him return to earth!
Utnapishtim shook his head: – Let him sleep, and you mark the notches on the wall for the day. Seven days passed. And there were seven notches over Gilgamesh’s head. He woke up, and said to Utnapishtim. – Death took possession of my body, and this sleep was like death.
– This is a long sleep from fatigue, Gilgamesh. You slept for seven days, and life returned to you. Wash yourself by the stream. Throw the torn skins into the sea, cover your nakedness with white linen and get into Urshanabi’s boat. When Gilgamesh left, Utnapishtim’s wife said:
– He walked, got tired, and worked. You didn’t give him anything for the journey. Let me bake him some bread.
– One who has a restless soul cannot be satisfied with bread only. That man lives not on bread, but on his insane daring. Instead of bread, I will give Gilgamesh one secret word.
Gilgamesh washed himself with spring water and changed his clothes. His body became beautiful. But the sadness did not leave his face.
Gilgamesh sat in the boat. But before sailing away, he heard a loud voice: “There is a flower at the bottom of the ocean with fiery petals on a high thorny stalk. If you, Gilgamesh, are restless, you will get that miracle flower and will not face old age, death will bypass you. Here it is, the secret word that I give you as my goodbye.”
Hearing this word, Gilgamesh tied stones to his feet and dived to the bottom of the ocean. He saw a beautiful flower on a high thorny stem. And he reached for that flower. It pricked his hand with thorns, and the sea was stained with blood. But he, not feeling pain, plucked that flower with force and threw it over his head like a torch. Cutting off the heavy stones, Gilgamesh rose from the water. On the shore, he turned to Urshanabi:
– Here it is, a famous flower that makes life eternal, that brings youth to the elder. It will be delivered to Uruk. I will test it on people. If the old man becomes younger, I will taste it.
They wandered through the desert and saw the reservoir. To cool his body, Gilgamesh sank into the pool. When he backed upstairs, he saw a snake. The snake crawled away, carrying away the flower and changing the skin on the way. Gilgamesh burst into tears and spoke to Urshanabi:
– For whom did I suffer and work? I have not brought any good for myself. I could not find Enkidu and I return to Uruk with nothing.
Where the light Euphrates rushes to the sea, a hill of sand rises. The city is buried under it. The wall has become dust. The wood has become rotten. The rust has eaten the metal away. Oh, traveler, climb the hill and peer into the blue horizon. You see, the herd wanders to the place where the watering place. The shepherd sings the song. No, not about the formidable king and not about his glory. It sings about human friendship…