Before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races.
The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?
That last stage of exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has become a present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars. The immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts. And looking across space with instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely dreamed of, they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles sunward of them, a morning star of hope.
Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
The great Aruru knew the right answer
To fashion a man equal to Gilgamesh
An untamed man to tame the tyrant
An untaught man to teach him secrets.
― Jenny Lewis
They made him for me,
Brother, that my mother never bore,
Grew him from their spit,
And clay, and from the river shore,
To teach me to be calm.
To teach me how to temper
The wildness of my storm,
And shame me into being twice a man.
They gave him to me,
He walked my halls,
Journeyed with me ’cross the land,
Answered every call
to arms. He was at my side.
Together through the fights,
He helped me build a wall,
With stolen cedar from the gods’ woods.
They took him from me,
Though both should bare the blame.
I walked with him,
His crimes the same
As mine, we wore them well.
My hands lay the Cedar Giant low.
And yet, they only came
For him.
They made him for me,
And gave him to me,
And took him from me,
And gave me something more.
I’d never known,
That I could grieve,
Before.
Gilgamesh the tall, magnificent and terrible,
who opened passes in the mountains,
who dug wells on the slopes of the uplands,
and crossed the ocean, the wide sea to the sunrise;
who scoured the world ever searching for life,
and reached through sheer force Uta-napishti the Distant;
who restored the cult-centres destroyed by the Deluge,
and set in place for the people the rites of the cosmos.
Who is there can rival his kingly standing,
and say like Gilgamesh, 'It is I am the king'?
Gilgamesh was his name from the day he was born,
two-thirds of him god and one third human.
The King of Uruk
Gilgamesh is a fairly young and tyrannical king.
His tyranny seems... innocent, in a sense. Almost the tyranny of a giant who plays with regular people like toys, unaware of their suffering.
He keeps the people busy all day playing his war games. He beds brides on their wedding night before the groom is allowed. He is gigantic (literally), handsome and strong. But he’s basically torturing the people he’s supposed to be caring for. The people cry out to the gods on account of his rulership.
In response, the gods create a counterpart to him, someone to keep him occupied so his people can get some relief. They tell the creator goddess to get to work. The goal:
'Let [the new man] be a match for the storm of [Gilgamesh’s] heart,
Let them vie with each other, so Uruk may be rested!'
This counterpart is a wild man, born in the forest, created from clay. He roams like a wild animal, eats grass with the herd, and frustrates the efforts of hunters, filling in their pit traps and setting loose their prey.
One such hunter complains to his father. The father tells him to send a prostitute to charm the wild man.
Enkidu Charmed
The hunter brings the prostitute Shamhat to seduce Enkidu (the wild man). Shamhat and Enkidu have sex for seven days and nights, after which he, for lack of a better term, becomes sentient. He no longer belongs with the animals.
Enkidu had defiled his body so pure,
his legs stood still, though his herd was in motion.
Enkidu was weakened, could not run as before,
but now he had reason, and wide understanding.
She screwed humanity into civilized him.
The prostitute tells Enkidu about the city, and about Gilgamesh. She tells him how the king has been having dreams.
Gilgamesh told the dreams to his mother. She interpreted:
''The stars of heaven [appeared] above you,
[like a] rock from the sky one fell down before you.
You lifted it up, but it weighed too much for you,
you tried to roll it, but you could not dislodge it.
"You lifted it up, set it down at my feet, I and I, Ninsun, I made it your equal.
Like a wife you loved it, caressed and embraced it:
a mighty comrade will come to you, and be his friend's saviour.
It is a prophecy of Gilgamesh meeting Enkidu. Shamhat suspects as much and she brings him back with her to the city.
Her words he heard, her speech found favour:
the counsel of a woman struck home in his heart.
She stripped and clothed him in part of her garment,
the other part she put on herself.
Enkidu Fights Gilgamesh
Before Uruk, they come across shepherds.
The shepherds remark on how similar Enkidu is to Gilgamesh. They teach him how to eat and drink human food. At night, while the shepherds sleep, Enkidu is up killing wolves and lions that might kill the sheep.
A king is supposed to be a shepherd to his people. Enkidu is what Gilgamesh should be.
In the days following, a traveler passes by. He tells how Gilgamesh beds the brides of Uruk before the grooms do.
'He will couple with the wife-to-be,
he first of all, the bridegroom after.
Enkidu is horrified. He vows to fight Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh met with the maiden by night.
Forward came (Enkidu), he stood in the street,
blocking the path of Gilgamesh......
They seized each other at the door of the wedding house,
in the street they joined combat, in the Square of the Land.
At the end of their fight, Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends. Gilgamesh has finally found a match, someone almost as big as he is. A kindred spirit. Almost.
To Slay Humbaba
When meeting Gilgamesh's mother, Enkidu is reminded he was born in the wild and has no brother. He weeps.
Some text is missing, but basically, Gilgamesh tries to cheer him up and then suggests they go slay a monster together. To bring everlasting glory to them. Humbaba, who guards the cedar forest for the gods.
Humbaba, his voice is the Deluge,
his speech is fire, and his breath is death!
Enkidu tries to talk Gilgamesh out of it. Gilgamesh calls him a yellow-belly.
'Why, my friend, do you speak like a weakling?
With your spineless words you [make me] despondent.
'As for man, [his days] are numbered,
whatever he may do, it is but wind
They have axes and daggers forged for the conflict. Then they convene with the city council. Gilgamesh makes his case.
I would see the god of whom men talk,
whose name the lands do constantly repeat.
'I will conquer him in the Forest of Cedar:
let the land learn Uruk's offshoot is mighty!
He asks for the blessing of the men of Uruk.
Enkidu tries to get the councilmen of Uruk to talk Gilgamesh out of it, but to no avail. So all the councilmen can do is entrust Gilgamesh to Enkidu's care, since he knows the wild.
Gilgamesh takes Enkidu to the palace of Queen Ninsun, his mother, for guidance and blessing.
Adopted
Ninsun is not happy to hear what Gilgamesh wants to do. She goes alone up to the roof:
Scattering incense she lifted her arms in appeal to the Sun God:
'Why did you afflict my son Gilgamesh with so restless a spirit?
'For now you have touched him and he will tread
the distant path to the home of Humbaba.
He will face a battle he knows not,
he will ride a road he knows not.
She prays for Gilgamesh's safety and that he will be victorious.
She returns to the two of them and adopts Enkidu. Enkidu now has a brother.
'O mighty Enkidu, you are not sprung from my womb,
but henceforth your brood will belong with the votaries of Gilgamesh,
the priestesses, the hierodules and the women of the temple.'
She put the symbols on Enkidu's neck.
Enkidu tries one last time to dissuade Gilgamesh, but no luck. They set out.
Bad Dreams
They make their way to the forest of Lebanon. When they make camp, Gilgamesh prays for a dream, an omen. He has bad dreams, but Enkidu assures him they are good omens and they'll slay the beast. Three times Gilgamesh has these disturbing dreams.
Enkidu reassures him:
'We draw, my friend, ever nearer the forest,
the dreams are close, the battle soon.
You will see the radiant auras of the god,
of *Humbaba, whom in your thoughts you fear so much.
'Locking horns like a bull you will batter him,
and force his head down with your strength.
The old man you saw is your powerful god,
the one who begot you, divine Lugalbanda.'
Twice more Gilgamesh has bad dreams. And twice more Enkidu tries to convince him they will be delivered and destroy Humbaba.
The text gets pretty fragmented. But suffice it to say they reach the forest. They enter and confront Humbaba.
Ungrateful Enkidu
Humbaba chides Enkidu, saying he didn't bother him when he was a wild child, even though he could have. And now Enkidu is here to fight him?
In a bit of role reversal from before they set out, Gilgamesh gets cold feet, but Enkidu tells him to stop being a coward and strike.
Shamash, the sun god, does as Ninsun asked, and sends strong winds against Humbaba. The winds pin him back and he cannot fight. Gilgamesh draws near to deliver the death blow.
Humbaba pleads for his life, saying he will serve Gilgamesh and guard the forest for him and allow only him to harvest cedar trees.
Enkidu tells Gilgamesh not to listen. Humbaba replies:
I should have picked you up and hanged you from a sapling at the
way into the forest,
I should have fed your flesh to the locust bird, ravening eagle and
vulture.
'Now, Enkidu, [my] release lies with you:
tell Gilgamesh to spare me my life!'
Enkidu replies:
finish him, slay him, do away with his power! ....
before Enlil the foremost hears what we do!
Humbaba curses them. Gilgamesh kills him. Rain falls on the mountain.
He slew the ogre, the forest's guardian,
at whose yell were sundered the peaks of Sirion and Lebanon,
... the mountains did quake,
... all the hillsides did tremble.
The gods were said to dwell in that cedar forest.
They cut down a cedar and lay it on a raft. Enkidu fears what the gods will think of them slaying Humbaba. But hopes to make a door for Enlil's temple to appease them.
Veruca Ishtar
Once back in Uruk, they clean up. Ishtar thinks Gilgamesh cleans up good. She asks him to be her husband.
Gilgamesh spurns her, in a most insulting fashion. Apparently she has left quite the train of miserable lovers in her wake.
'You loved the lion, perfect in strength,
but for him you dug seven pits and seven.
'You loved the horse, so famed in battle,
but you made his destiny whip, spur and lash.
You made his destiny a seven-league gallop,
you made his destiny to drink muddy water,
and doomed Silili his mother to perpetual weeping.
'You loved the shepherd, the grazier, the herdsman,
who gave you piles of loaves baked in embers,
and slaughtered kids for you day after day.
'You struck him and turned him into a wolf,
now his very own shepherd boys chase him away,
and his dogs take bites at his haunches.
'You loved Ishullanu, your father's gardener
.... you struck him and turned him into a dwarf.
....Must you love me also and [deal with me] likewise?'
Ishtar runs up to heaven and whines to her parents.
Her father is like, 'you totally brought those insults on yourself.'
Ishtar opened her mouth to speak,
saying to her father, Anu:
'Father, give me, please, the Bull of Heaven (Taurus),
so in his dwelling I may slay Gilgamesh!
She goes Veruca Salt and threatens to open the Underworld and unleash zombies on earth if she doesn't get her way.
'If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,
I shall smash [the gates of the Netherworld, right down] to its dwelling.....
I shall bring up the dead to consume the living,
I shall make the dead outnumber the living.'
Her father is like, 'okay, but only if you've provided seven years of grain stored up for Uruk’ (so the people don't starve while the bull is loose and she’s having her tantrum).
She's like, 'oh, totally. Already done.'
So he gives her Taurus, the bull of heaven. It dries up the land and lowers the river. When it snorts, pits open up in the earth and people fall in them. Enkidu fell in one, got tired of it, jumped up and grabbed the bull by the horns.
He yelled at Gilgamesh to slay the bull while he grabbed the tail. Together they killed the bull of heaven.
They took its heart and set it before the sun god.
Ishtar throws another fit. Enkidu tears a leg off the bull and throws it at her, saying:
'Had I caught you too, I'd have treated you likewise,
I'd have draped your arms in its guts!'
Ishtar gets all her girlfriends together and they mourn the bull. Meanwhile, the men of the city admire the size of the horns. (Men and women haven't changed in five thousand years, I see.)
The Death of Enkidu
Gilgamesh and Enkidu wash up in the river and go back into town. That night they have a party in the palace. And Enkidu has a dream.
He dreams that the gods sit in council and determine he must die for the slaying of Humbaba and Taurus.
Enkidu weeps that he will soon die and never again see his brother. He curses the door he fashioned for Enlil from the cedar because it did him no good.
Gilgamesh says he'll pray on Enkidu's behalf, but Enkidu insists his fate is sealed.
But the next morning, he himself prays to the sun god for his life. He also curses the hunter who told on him and the prostitute who charmed him, the two who took him from the wild in the first place.
At this juncture, Shamash (the sun god) answers him:
'O Enkidu, why curse Shamhat the harlot,
who fed you bread that was fit for a god,
and poured you ale that was fit for a king,
who clothed you in a splendid garment,
and gave you as companion the handsome Gilgamesh?
Shamash tells Enkidu that at least now he will be mourned. Gilgamesh will give him a grave of honor and will sorrow after him, and all of Uruk as well. He will be renowned and the rulers of the underworld will kiss his feet.
So Enkidu changes his mind about Shamhat the prostitute, and blesses her instead. Tells her that men will pay the highest price for her.
'Ishtar, [the ablest] of gods, shall gain you entrance
to the man whose home [is established] and wealth heaped high!
[For you] his wife shall be deserted, though mother of seven!'
Aw. How sweet.
Enkidu tells Gilgamesh his vision of being brought down to the Underworld and implores Gilgamesh to remember him.
Enkidu loses strength and falls ill. Twelve days later, he is in his death throes. He remarks on the irony of being afraid to die in combat; it would have been better than dying ignobly on a bed.
The rest of his final scene is still missing. But Enkidu, brother, has died.
'[He bound] my arms like the wings of a bird,
to lead me captive to the house of darkness, seat of Irkalla:
to the house which none who enters ever leaves,
on the path that allows no journey back
“Vengeance on a dumb brute!” cried Starbuck, “that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous."
Of modern standers-of-mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and bronze men; who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still entirely incompetent to the business of singing out upon discovering any strange sight.
There you stand, a hundred feet above the silent decks, striding along the deep, as if the masts were gigantic stilts, while beneath you and between your legs, as it were, swim the hugest monsters of the sea.
You stand upon two thin parallel sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t'gallant crosstrees. Here, tossed about by the sea, the beginner feels about as cozy as he would standing on a bull's horns.
To grope down into the bottom of the sea after them; to have one's hands among the unspeakable foundations, ribs, and very pelvis of the world; this is a fearful thing.
I don't well know whether to go back and strike him, or—what's that?— down here on my knees and pray for him? Yes, that was the thought coming up in me.
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