by Lewis Turco
Gilgamesh
and Enkidu strode
Forth from the grand
gate of the city,
Enkidu leading
the way from Erech
Toward the forest
of fearsome Humbaba.
They marched many
leagues until
At last they approached
the verge of the woodland.
They stood and stared
at the cedar forest,
stunned by the stature
of the spiring boles.
Their eyes searched
for a trail through the trees,
for Humbaba’s track –-
“Here!” cried Enkidu,
“See where the ogre
has trampled his way
through the wood
toward his mountain
where the gods
and goddesses dwell!”
Laughter
and revelry resounded
in the effulgent air,
echoed and rebounded
about the heroic pair!
The cedars grew
in groves and rows
casting shadows
cool and cloistered.
The forest floor
was thickly thorny,
ballukku trees
tangled with cedars
that fathered herds
of cedar saplings.
The elder trees
seeped sap
that drizzled like rain
and dried to scabs
until true rain
washed it away.
Throughout the wood
birds called and cried,
till all was noise,
cacophonies!
A cricket’s call
became a chorus,
a mourning dove
made subtle moan
until a turtle
replied in kind.
At the stork’s call
the forest rejoiced;
the francolin’s voice
made the forest sing!
Monkey matrons
called their offspring
who replied
with apelet shrieks,
drumming praise
before Humbaba.
The cedars’ shadow
fell on the King
Instilling terror,
Gripping his limbs
and enfeebling him.
Gilgamesh felt
Fear at the thought
of the forthcoming fight.
He lay for a day
and then another,
Prone on his pallet.
He did not rise
Till twelve
days had passed,
And then he called
His friend Enkidu,
“Comrade, you hate me
because in Erech
You were afraid
of the coming combat,
Because you said, ‘friend,
let us not go
Down to the depths
of the Forest of Cedars!’
My arms are weak now,
hands stricken
With palsy, Enkidu!”
“Shall we be cowards?”
Enkidu replied.
“You shall surpass
All those who battle.
You are cunning
And shrewd in the fray.
Be brave and resist
Both trembling and weakness.
Have no fear
Of Death, nor terror
of what may come.
You have led the way
here from Erech
And have not flinched
in duty or friendship.
You have guarded me
and I will guard you.
Let it be so!”
Enkidu said
unto his sovereign,
“Have no fear!
Let us raise
our pennants and banners high
and sing boldly, in praise
of honor, our battle-cry!
These are our city’s ways!”
Gilgamesh replied,
“Indeed, my friend.
“Why to we tremble
here like weaklings,
We who strode
over mountains?”
Entu the treeherd
stood sentinel
At the sylvan
entranceway.
Enkidu lifted
his eyes and spoke
Unto the guardian
who seemed
Himself a cedar:
“Sentinel of the Forest,
For forty leagues
I have admired
This timberland
until I sighted
The towering cedar.
The wood has no peer.
Six gar your height,
two gar your breadth.
Your branches pivot
and interlock –
They were fashioned
in the city of Nippur!
If I had known
that such was your grandeur
I might have sensed
trouble no matter
Wherever we went!”
Enkidu arose
And the heroes stood
staring abroad
At the height of the cedars,
scanned the avenue
Past Entu
into the wood where
Humbaba dwelt.
A path appeared,
Straight as a spear.
Its passage was clear.
They could see in the distance
the Mount of the Cedar,
Home of Immortals,
the shrine of Irnini,
The cedars’ pride,
raised on the mountain.
The shade was fair,
full of delight.
Bushes spread there
with the incense of cedar.
Enkidu said,
“While I lay ill
I had a dream
in which I saw
The two of us
standing together
High on a peak
and the peak crumbled
Beneath our feet.
We were left standing
Alone in a desert.
The mountain is
Evil Humbaba.
We’ shall confront him
And throw down his carcass,
leaving his corpse
Abased at our feet
upon the morrow.”
The morrow dawned
and they broke their fast,
Eating a morsel,
then hollowed a pit
In the warm sunlight.
Enkidu stood
Above it and poured
a meal for the Mountain.
Then a chill wind blew,
the breath of Humbaba;
It passed over
the King and caused
Him to cower and sway
like corn in a field.
Enkidu bent
to grasp and support
The King’s hips.
The firmament roared,
Poured out lightning.
Earth resounded,
Quaking beneath them.
Smoke rose
Out of the mountain
dimming the day.
Flames flew
from the throat of the cone
And molten stone
flowed down its sides
As it gorged itself,
the fires faded
And the hot brands
turned to ash
as they fell glowing,
hastened by the breeze
like seeds of lightning flowing
into the forest of trees
where fires began growing.
Gilgamesh took
his great axe
And stepped forward,
the first to set
Foot upon
the forest path,
And as he began
to pass Entu,
The treeherd reached
down with his limbs
From above,
grasped the King,
And raised him into
a tangle of branches,
Holding him tightly.
The sudden attack
Took Gilgamesh
unawares.
The King gasped
and dropped his axe
From a great height.
It fell at the feet
Of Enkidu the Hero
who, unthinking,
Picked it up
and swung it mightily
Against the trunk
of the cedar monster.
The sharp blade
sliced through
The massive bole
and Entu dropped
Gilgamesh
before itself
Fell to the earth.
The King also
Plummeted, howling
with pain, upon
The forest floor,
his bones broken.
Enkidu lifted
his arms aloft
To Shamash,
God of the Sun,
And cried aloud,
“Lo, on that day
In Erech the City,
before we left,
I heard you swear
an oath to the King
That you would aid
this great assault
On the Forest of Cedars.”
Shamash hearkened
And raised mighty
winds against
The ogre Humbaba,
a wind from the North,
A wind from the South —
yea, a tempest,
A wind of Evil,
from East and West –
Eight winds in all:
a chill wind,
A hot wind,
a whirlwind spinning
Which seized Humbaba
before and behind,
That he might go
neither forward nor backward.
Humbaba surrendered,
whereupon
He spoke to the King
but not to Enkidu,
“O Gilgamesh,
I pray you stay
Your hand and be
my master now,
And I will be
your own vassal.
Disregard my threats
against you,
For I will lay down
all weapons before you.”
Enkidu said
to his twin and comrade,
“Pay no attention
to these lying oaths
Humbaba spreads
before us here.
You dare not accept
his specious offer.
Humbaba must not
remain alive.”
Before the King
could quickly reply
Enkidu lifted
his monstrous axe
And with one blow
cut off the head
Of the horrid ogre.
It rolled upon
the ground, one eye staring
into the sky, the other
open and balefully glaring
into Earth the Mother
with neither sight nor caring.
Note from Lewis Turco:
After my version of the epic appeared in book form a lost portion of the canto in my book titled “The Forest of Humbaba” was translated and published on-line in October of 2015 by Elizabeth Palermo, Associate Editor of Livescience in an essay titled “Lost ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ Verse Depicts Cacophonous Abode of Gods” (www.livescience.com/52372-new-tablet-gilgamesh-epic.html). I then turned the translation of the new material into Anglo-Saxon prosody and revised my Humbaba canto by inserting my new material. This required some revisions elsewhere in the text, which I also carried out. The version of “The Forest of Humbaba” included here is the revised version. Here is my rewritten version of Humbaba.