Gilgamesh...
in the wilderness...
sprouts...
He rose up and ... 
before him.
They came together in the land's market;
Enkidu blocked the gate
with his foot,
not letting Gilgamesh in.
They wrestled with one another,
locked like bulls.
They shattered the doorpost,
and the wall shook.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
wrestled with one another,
locked like bulls;
they shattered the doorpost
and the wall shook.
As Gilgamesh bent his knee,
his foot on the ground,
his anger abated and he turned away.

Gilgamesh heeded what his friend said.
He took the axe in his hand;
he drew the sword from his belt.
Gilgamesh struck [Huwawa] in the [neck]>
Enkidu, his friend. . .
At the third [stroke, Huwawa] fell.
Confusion. . . dumbfounded.
[He struck] the guardian, Huwawa, to the ground.
For two leagues the cedars [resounded].
Enkidu kill with him . . . 
Forest. . .cedars.
Enkidu killed [the guardian] of the forest,
at whose words Saria and Lebanon [shook].
The mountains became. . .
The hills became . . .
He slew the . . .cedars.

He washed his grimy hair and cleaned his straps;
he shook out the braid of his hair against his back;
he threw off his filthy clothes and put on clean ones;
he covered himself with a cloak, fastened the sash;
Gilgamesh put on his crown.

To Gilgamesh's beauty great Ishtar lifted her eyes.
Come, Gilgamesh, be my lover!
Give me the taste of your body.
Would that you were my husband, and I your wife!
I'd order harnessed for you a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold,
its wheels of gold and its horns of precious amber.
You will drive storm demons--powerful mules!
Enter our house, into the sweet scent of cedarwood.
As you enter our house
the purification priests will kiss your feet the way they do in Aratta.
Kings, rulers, princes will bend down before you.
Mountains and lands will bring their yield to you.
Your goats will drop triplets, your ewes twins.
Even loaded down, your donkey will overtake the mule. 
Your horses will win fame for their running.
Your ox under its yoke will have no rival.

Gilgamesh shaped his mouth to speak,
saying to great Ishtar:
"What could I give you if I should take you as wife?
Would I give you oil for the body, and fine wrappings?
Would I give you bread and victuals?--
you who eat food of the gods,
you who drink wine fit for royalty?
...
[For you] they pour out [libations];
[you are clothed with the Great] Garment.
[Ah,] the gap [between us], if I take you in marriage!


You are a cooking fire that goes out in the cold,
a back door that keeps out neither wind nor storm,
a palace that crushes the brave one defending it,
a well whose lid collapses,
pitch that defiles the one carrying it,
a waterskin that soaks the one who lifts it, 
limestone that crumbles in the stone wall, 
a battering ram that shatters in the land of the enemy, 
a shoe that bites the owner's foot.

Which of your lovers have you loved forever?
Which of your little shepherds has continued to pelase you?
Come, let me name your lovers for you.

''

Ishtar shaped her mouth, speaking, 
saying to Anu the father, 
"Father, make the Bull of heaven.  Let him kill 
Gilgamesh in the very place he lives;
let the bull glut himself on Gilgamesh.
If you do not give me the bull,
I will smash in the gates of the netherworld;
I will set up the [ruler] of the great below,
and I will make the dead rise, and they will devour the living,
and the dead will increase beyond the number of the living.

Anu shaped his mouth to speak to glorious Ishtar:
"If you ask me for the bull, 
for seven years the land of Uruk will harvest only chaff.
Have you stores up grain for the people?
Have you grown grass for the animals?"

Ishtar went up on the walls of Uruk of the Sheepfold.
Disguised as a mourner she let loose a curse:
"Curse Gilgamesh, who has besmeared me, 
killing the Bull of Heaven!"
When Enkidu heard this, the words of Ishtar,
he tore out the thigh of the bull and threw it in her face.
"if I could reach you, as I can him,
it would have been done to you:
I'd hang his guts around your arm!"

To which Enkidu cried back, "And woe to you, croaking bird of doom! Here: I make my offering to you!"

Boldly he ripped loose the private parts of the dead bull and flung them with all his might, so that the bloody flesh landed on the rampart almost at her feet. He laughed his rumbling laugh and called to her, "There, goddess! Does that appease you? If I could get hold of you, I'd drape you in the bull's own guts!"

Gilgamesh The King, p 204.

They embraced each other for their night's rest;

sleep overcame them, surging night.

At midnight sleep left him.

He tells a dream to Enkidu, his friend.

"If you did not wake me, why am I awake?

Enkidu, my friend, I must have seen a dream.

Did you wake me? Why . . .

Besides my first dream, I saw a second dream.

In my dream, friend, a mountain toppled.

It laid me low and took hold of my feet.

The glare was overpowering. A man appeared,

the handsomest in the land; his grace . . .

From under the mountain he pulled me out,

gave me water to drink. My heart grew quiet

. He set my feet on the ground."

Gilgamesh