(translation by Nikolai Gumilyov)
They stand nearby and look into the thicket.
And they see huge cedars, And they see forest paths,
Where Humbaba wanders with measured steps,
The roads are straight, the paths are excellent,
And they see the cedar mountain, the dwelling of the gods, the temple of Irnini.
The cedar rises before the mountain, grows magnificently,
His supportive shadow is full of rejoicing,
Horsetails lurked in it, and mosses lurked,
Fragrant herbs lurked under the cedar.
The heroes contemplate the thicket for a double hour
And they also contemplate two double hours.
Eabani opened his mouth and said to Gilgamesh:
“Truly, now is the time for us to show our strength,
Humbaba lives in a beautiful place."
Gilgamesh heard the words of Eabani,
He quickly stands next to his friend:
“Well, let’s enter this thicket and find Humbaba,
In seven garments he clothed his mighty body,
But he prepares for battle and seduces six,
Like a wounded buffalo, he goes into a rage.”
Here Gilgamesh shouts, his voice is full of threat,
He calls the ruler of the forest: “Come out, Humbaba!”
Once he screams, he screams another time and a third time,
But Humbaba does not come to meet him.
Eabani lies down on the ground and indulges in sleep,
And, waking up, he tells Gilgamesh about his dream:
"The dream I had was terrible,
You and I stood on the top of the mountain,
And suddenly the mountain collapsed below us,
And we both rolled off her like bugs
You, beautiful and strong, Lord of Uruk,
I, born into the world in the desert."
Gilgamesh says in response to Eabani:
“My friend, your dream is beautiful for both of us,
Your sleep is precious, it heralds happiness.
This is Humbaba - the mountain that you saw
Now I know that we will defeat Humbaba,
We’ll throw his corpse into a thicket of cedars.”
The dawn flashed, and the heroes began to pray,
Twenty hours later they made sacrifices to the dead,
Thirty hours later they finished their lamentations,
They dug a deep ditch in front of Shamash,
Gilgamesh ascended to the altar of stone
And with a prayer he threw the grain into the ditch:
“Bring, O mountain, a dream to Eabani,
Help him, God, to see the future!”
The prayer was accepted and the rain fell,
And with the rain a dream came to Eabani,
He bowed him down like a ripe ear,
Gilgamesh fell to his knees, holding his friend's head.
He finished his dream in the middle of the night,
He stood up and said to the Lord of Uruk:
“Friend, did you shout at me? Why did I wake up?
Did you touch me? Why am I worried?
Has God passed here, my body is trembling.
My friend, I saw a new dream,
The dream I had was completely terrible.
The heavens cried out, the earth lowed,
There was no light, darkness came out,
Lightning flashed, darkness spread,
Death fell like rain on the ground,
She quickly extinguished the flame,
Turned lightning into stinking smoke.
Let’s go down, friend, to the plain and there we’ll decide what to do!”
Gilgamesh opens his mouth and says to Eabani:
Your sleep is precious, it heralds happiness,
I know now that we will destroy Humbaba!”
Now the cedars are shaking, and Humbaba comes out,
Scary, he comes out from under the cedars.
Both heroes rushed, competing in courage,
Both grappled with the ruler of the cedars.
Fate helped Eabani twice,
And Gilgamesh shakes Humbaba's head.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru