(translation by Nikolai Gumilyov)
As the dawn began to shine a little, Eabani said to Gilgamesh:
“Death has conquered me, I am now powerless.
The gods love you and will make you strong,
All the maidens of Uruk will proclaim your glory,
But you won’t escape your destiny, beautiful!
Day and night you worked, you entered the cedar thicket,
Reigned in blessed Uruk, and they gave you honor,
How many spaces have we covered, both flat and mountainous?
And I’m tired, and I’m lying down, and I won’t get up again.
Cover me with magnificent clothes like your mother wears,
Moisten my curls with cedar oil,
The one under whom Humbaba died from our anger,
He who protects the animals of the desert,
The one who played by the water with the herd,
He will never sit next to you,
He will never drink water in the Euphrates,
The blessed one will never enter Uruk!”
And Gilgamesh wept over his friend:
"Eabani, my friend, my brother, desert panther,
We wandered together, climbed mountains together,
They defeated Humbaba, the guardian of the cedar thicket,
And the heavenly bull was killed;
What kind of sleep has taken possession of you now,
Why are you darkened and don’t listen to me!”
But Eabani didn’t look up at his friend,
Gilgamesh touched his heart, and his heart did not beat.
Then he fell on his friend as if on a bride,
Like a roaring lion, he rushed at his friend,
Like a lioness whose cub has been killed,
He grabbed his motionless body,
He tore his clothes, shed copious tears,
He threw off the royal signs, mourning his death.
For six days and six nights Gilgamesh stayed with Eabani,
And when the dawn shone, the people of Uruk gathered to him
And they said to the lord, they said to Gilgamesh:
"You have defeated Humbaba, the keeper of the cedars,
You killed lions in mountain gorges,
He also killed the bull that came down from the sky.
Why is your power lost, why is your gaze lowered,
The heart beats so fast, wrinkles cut across the forehead,
The chest is filled with sorrow,
And your face is similar to the face of one leaving on a long journey,
Pain, sadness and anxiety changed him,
Why are you running into a deserted field?
And Gilgamesh said and answered the people of Uruk:
"Eabani, my friend, my brother, desert panther,
Together with whom we saw so many hardships,
The friend with whom we killed lions,
They killed the bull that came down from the sky,
They defeated Humbaba, the guardian of the cedar,
Now his fate has been fulfilled.
For six days and nights I cried over them
Until the day he was lowered into his grave,
And now I’m afraid of death, and of God in a deserted field,
My friend’s dying word weighs heavily on me.
How, oh, how will I be consoled? How, oh how will I pay?
My beloved friend is now like dirt,
And won’t I lie down like him, so as not to rise up forever?”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru