Gilgamesh und Huwawa, Version B: translation

^1-4"So come on now, you heroic bearer of a sceptre of wide-ranging power! Noble glory of the gods, angry bull standing ready for a fight! Young lord Gilgamec, cherished in Unug!"

^5-21"In Unug people are dying, and souls are full of distress. People are lost -- that fills me with dismay. I lean out over the city wall: bodies in the water make the river almost overflow. That is what I see: that people die thus, which fills me with despair; that the end of life is unavoidable; that the grave, the all-powerful underworld, will spare no one; that no one is tall enough to block off the underworld; that no one is broad enough to cover over the underworld -- the boundary that a man cannot cross at the final end of life. By the life of my own mother Ninsun, and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, lord Nudimmud,
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I will complete ...... there. I will bring ...... there."

^22-28His slave Enkidu answered him: "...... if you want to set off into the mountains, Utu should know about it from you. If you want to set off into the Mountains of Cedar-felling, Utu should know about it from you. A decision that concerns the mountains is Utu's business. A decision that concerns the Mountains of Cedar-felling is the business of youthful Utu."

^29-33Utu of heaven put on his lapis-lazuli diadem and came forward with head high. In his hand Gilgamec, the lord of Kulaba, held a holy staff before his nose: "Utu, I want to set off into the mountains! May you be my helper! I want to set off into the Mountains of Cedar-felling! May you be my helper!"

^34-50 4 lines missing
"The first ....... The second ....... The third ....... The fourth ....... The fifth ....... The sixth beats at the flanks of the mountains like a battering flood. The seventh flashes like lightning, and no one can deflect its power. These shine in the heavens, but they know the routes on earth. In heaven they shine ......, raising ......; on earth they know the way even to Aratta. They know the passes as the merchants do. They know the mountains crannies like the pigeons. They will guide you through the mountain valleys."

^51-56Gilgamec organised a levy in his city. In ...... Kulaba he had the horn sounded. "Citizens! You who have a wife, go to your wife! You who have children, go to your children! Warriors, whether experienced or inexperienced, who have no wife, who have no children -- let such people join me at my side as the companions of Gilgamec."

^57-66The king left the city. Gilgamec left Kulaba, to follow the route to the Mountains of Cedar-felling. He crossed the first mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the second mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the third mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the fourth mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the fifth mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the sixth mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. When he had crossed the seventh mountain range, there his intuition led him to find the cedars.

^67-70Gilgamec began to chop at the cedars. His slave Enkidu worked on the branches for him. His fellow-citizens who had come with him stacked them in piles.

^71-77Then, as one warrior got closer to the other, the aura of Huwawa ...... sped towards them like a spear (?). ...... he rested there peacefully. He was asleep (?) .......
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^78-82...... addressed (?) ......: "You who have gone to sleep, you who have gone to sleep ......! Young lord Gilgamec, how long will you sleep for? The mountains are becoming indistinct as the shadows fall across them; the evening ......."

^83-89Gilgamec awoke from his dream, shuddering from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes; there was eery silence everywhere. "By the life of my own mother Ninsun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, lord Nudimmud ......!
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^90-95"I ......, he vexes (?) me -- the warrior whose face is a lion's grimace, and whose breast is like a raging flood. No one dare approach his brow, which devours the reed-beds. On his tongue, like that of a man-eating lion, the blood never dries. You do not have enough strength for the warrior, such is his might.

^96-98His slave Enkidu addressed him:
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^99-108"By the life of my own mother Ninsun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, lord Nudimmud ......! Warrior, one would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here! they have made some tiny shoes for your tiny feet. Here! they have made some big shoes for your big feet.
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If you bring .......

^109-115"By the life of my mother Ninsun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! My personal god Enki, lord Nudimmud ......! Warrior, one would like to know where in the mountains you live. Here! they have made some tiny shoes for your tiny feet. Here! they have made some big shoes for your big feet.
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^116-12913 lines missing
They ...... many piles on the hillside.

^130-134When Huwawa had finally handed over to him his seventh aura, Gilgamec found himself beside Huwawa. He punched him on the ear with his fist. Huwawa furrowed his brows at him, baring his teeth at him. Gilgamec threw a halter over him, as over a captured wild bull. He tied him up by the elbows like a captured warrior.

^135-136The warrior began to weep, shedding tears. Huwawa began to weep, shedding tears.

^137-141"Warrior, you lied! You have manhandled me; yet you had sworn an oath, by the life of your own mother Ninsun and of your father, holy Lugalbanda. Your personal god Enki, lord Nudimmud ......! And now you have thrown a halter over me as if over a captured wild bull, and have tied me up by the elbows like a captured warrior!"

^142-147...... Gilgamec's noble heart took pity on him. He addressed his slave Enkidu: "Come on, let us set the warrior free! He could be our guide! He could be our guide who would spy out the pitfalls of the route for us! He could be my ......! He could carry all my things!
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^148-162His slave Enkidu replied to him (1 ms. has instead: ...... replied to Gilgamec): "...... so lacking in understanding! ...... with no ......! ...... with not ......! A captured warrior set free! A captured high priestess returned to the jipar! A captured gudu priest restored to his wig of hair! Who has ever, ever seen such a thing? He would be able to ...... the mountain routes. He would be able to mix up the mountain paths. Then we would never get back to the mother-city that bore us!
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^163-166Huwawa replied to him: "The mother who bore me was a cave in the mountains. The father who engendered me was a cave in the hills. Utu left me to live all alone in the mountains!"

^167-168Gilgamec addressed Huwawa: "Come on, ......."
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Revision history

27.xii.1999-22.i.2000 : JAB : adapting translation
01.v.2000: GZ : proofreading
02.v.2000: GZ : SGML tagging
05.v.2000 : ER : proofreading SGML
05.v.2000 : ER : converting to HTML 4.0
7.ix.2001 : ER : header and footer reformatted; substantive content of file not changed