Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet I (Gilgamesh and the creation of Enkidu): tablet K.2756.D

^{T iv 5}Drank he his fill , with the beasts did his heart delight at the water,
So beheld him the courtesan-girl, the lusty great fellow,
(O but) a monster (all) savage from out of the depths of the desert!
"’Tis he, O girl! O, discover thy beauty, thy comeliness shew (him),

Thompson's numbered block(s) extend before the lines preserved on this tablet; the whole block is given so that no English line is cut mid-block.

^{T iv 10}So that thy loveliness he may possess—(O), in no wise be bashful,
Ravish the soul of him—(certes), as soon as his eye on thee falleth,
He, forsooth, will approach thee, and thou—O, loosen thy mantle,
So that he clasp thee, and (then) with the wiles of a woman shalt ply him;
(Wherefore) his animals, bred in his desert, will (straightway) deny him,

^{T iv 15}(Since) to his breast he hath held thee."
The girl, displaying her bosom,
Shew’d him her comeliness, (yea) so that he of her beauty possess’d him,
Bashful she was not, (but) ravish’d the soul of him, loosing her mantle,
So that he clasp’d her, (and then) with the wiles of a woman she plied him,

^{T iv 20}Holding her unto his breast.
(’Twas thus that) Enkidu dallied
Six days, (aye) seven nights, with the courtesan-girl in his mating.

(How Enkidu was inveigled into Erech to fight with Gilgamish).

Sated at length with her charms, he turn’d his face to his cattle,
O the gazelles, (how) they scamper’d away, as soon as they saw him!

^{T iv 25}Him, yea, Enkidu,—fled from his presence the beasts of the desert!
Enkidu losing his innocence —so, when the cattle fled from him,
Failed his knees, and he  slack’d in his running, (not) as aforetime:
Natheless he (thus) hath attain’d his full growth and hath broaden’d (his) wisdom.

^{T iv 30}Sat he again  at the feet of the woman, the woman his features
Scanning, and, while she  was speaking, his ears heard (the words) she  was saying:
"Comely thou art, e’en like to a god, O Enkidu, shalt be,

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^{T v 20}Enkidu, temper thine arrogance—Gilgamish, loveth him Shamash,
Anu, (and) Enlil , and Ea  have dower’d his wisdom with largesse.

(How Gilgamish dreamt of Enkidu).

(Sooth), or ever from out of thy mountains thou camest, in Erech

^{T v 25}Gilgamish thee had beheld in a dream; so, Gilgamish coming
Spake to his mother, the dream to reveal.
'O my mother, a vision
Which I beheld in my night-time. (Behold), there were stars of the heavens,
When something like unto Anu's own self fell down on my shoulders,

^{T v 30}(Ah, though) I heaved him, he was o’erstrong for me, (and though) his grapple
Loosed I, I was unable to shake him (from off me): (and now, all the meanwhile),
People from Erech were standing about [him , the] artisans [pressing].

^{T v 35}On [him behind], (while) throng’d him [the heroes]; my (very) companions
Kissing [his] feet; [I, I to my breast] like a woman did hold him,
(Then) [I] presented him low at [thy] feet, [that] as mine own equal.
[Thou] might’st account him.'
[She] who knoweth all wisdom (thus) to her Seigneur she answer’d,

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^{T v 40}[She] who knoweth all wisdom, to Gilgamish (thus) did she answer:
'(Lo), by the stars of the heavens are represented thy [comrades],
[That which was like unto] Anu's [own self], which fell on thy shoulders,
[Which thou didst heave, but he was, o’erstrong for thee, [(aye), though his grapple
Thou didst unloose], but to shake him from off thee thou wert [un] able,

^{T v 45}[So didst present] him low at my feet, [that] as thine own equal
[I might] account him—[and thou to thy breast like a woman] didst hold him:

Thompson's numbered block(s) extend after the lines preserved on this tablet; the whole block is given so that no English line is cut mid-block.