Free Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell Page B

will be bewildered, and will leave him forever.”
    The trapper found Shamhat, Ishtar’s priestess, and they went off into the wilderness. For three days they walked. On the third day they reached the waterhole. There they waited. For two days they sat as the animals came to drink clear water. Early in the morning of the third day, Enkidu came and knelt downto drink clear water with the antelope and deer. They looked in amazement. The man was huge and beautiful. Deep in Shamhat’s loins desire stirred. Her breath quickened as she stared at this primordial being. “Look,” the trapper said, “there he is. Now use your love-arts. Strip off your robe and lie here naked, with your legs apart. Stir up his lust when he approaches, touch him, excite him, take his breath with your kisses, show him what a woman is. The animals who knew him in the wilderness will be bewildered, and will leave him forever.”
    She stripped off her robe and lay there naked, with her legs apart, touching herself. Enkidu saw her and warily approached. He sniffed the air. He gazed at her body. He drew close, Shamhat touched him on the thigh,touched his penis, and put him inside her. She used her love-arts, she took his breath with her kisses, held nothing back, and showed him what a woman is. For seven days he stayed erect and made love with her, until he had had enough. At last he stood up and walked toward the waterhole to rejoin his animals. But the gazelles saw him and scattered, the antelope and deer bounded away. He tried to catch up, but his body was exhausted, his life-force was spent, his knees trembled, he could no longer run like an animal, as he had before. He turned back to Shamhat, and as he walked he knew that his mind had somehow grown larger, he knew things now that an animal can’t know.
    Enkidu sat down at Shamhat’s feet. He looked at her, and he understoodall the words she was speaking to him. “Now, Enkidu, you know what it is to be with a woman, to unite with her. You are beautiful, you are like a god. Why should you roam the wilderness and live like an animal? Let me take you to great-walled Uruk, to the temple of Ishtar, to the palace of Gilgamesh the mighty king, who in his arrogance oppresses the people, trampling upon them like a wild bull.”
    She finished, and Enkidu nodded his head. Deep in his heart he felt something stir, a longing he had never known before, the longing for a true friend. Enkidu said, “I will go, Shamhat. Take me with you to great-walled Uruk, to the temple of Ishtar, to the palace of Gilgamesh the mighty king. I will challenge him. I will shout to his face:
‘I
am the mightiest!
I
am the man who can make the world tremble!
I
am supreme!’”
    â€œCome,” said Shamhat, “let us go to Uruk, I will lead you to Gilgamesh the mighty king. You will see the great city with its massive wall, you will see the young men dressed in their splendor, in the finest linen and embroidered wool, brilliantly colored, with fringed shawls and wide belts. Every day is a festival in Uruk, with people singing and dancing in the streets, musicians playing their lyres and drums, the lovely priestesses standing before the temple of Ishtar, chatting and laughing, flushed with sexual joy, and ready to serve men’s pleasure, in honor of the goddess, so that even old men are aroused from their beds. You who are still so ignorant of life, I will show you Gilgamesh the mighty king,the hero destined for both joy and grief. You will stand before him and gaze with wonder, you will see how handsome, how virile he is, how his body pulses with erotic power. He is even taller and stronger than you—so full of life-force that he needs no sleep. Enkidu, put aside your aggression. Shamash, the sun god, loves him, and his mind has been made large by Anu, father of the gods, made large by Enlil, the god of earth, and by Ea, the god of water and wisdom. Even before you came down