| Gilgamesh, take the axe in your hand, go down into the woods, and cut down 300 punting poles each 60 cubits in length. Strip them, attach caps(?), and bring them to the boat!" … Gilgamesh did this and when he arrived at the Palace of Utnapishtim… Gilgamesh spoke to Utnapishtim, the Faraway: "I have been looking at you, but your appearance is not strange--you are like me! You yourself are not different--you are like me! My mind was resolved to fight with you, (but instead?) my arm lies useless over you. Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods, and have found life!" Utnapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying: "I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden, a secret of the gods I will tell you! Shuruppak, a city that you surely know, situated on the banks of the Euphrates, that city was very old, and there were gods inside it. The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood. And from here, Utnapishtim proceeds to explain to Gilgamesh how he escaped the flood by building an ark. But what is most important here is the imagery in the request to cut punting poles and place caps on them, using an axe. That is the symbolism of the mushroom, and nothing else I can think of. During the explanation he proceeds to report Enki’s position in response to the god’s accusation of his aid to Atrahasis. It was not I who revealed the secret of the Great Gods, I (only) made a dream appear to Atrahasis, and (thus) he heard the secret of the gods. Now then! The deliberation should be about him!' Enlil went up inside the boat and, grasping my hand, made me go up. He had my wife go up and kneel by my side. He touched our forehead and, standing between us, he blessed us: ‘Previously Utnapishtim was a human being. But now let Utnapishtim and his wife become like us, the gods! Let Utnapishtim reside far away, at the Mouth of the Rivers.’ They took us far away and settled us at the Mouth of the Rivers." It appears at this point in the story Gilgamesh is told he will be given the secret of Immortality if he can stay awake for 7 days but he fails and they mock him for the failure: “Now then, who will convene the gods on your behalf, that you may find the life that you are seeking! Wait! You must not lie down for six days and seven nights.” soon as he sat down (with his head) between his legs |
sleep, like a fog, blew upon him. Utnapishtim said to his wife: "Look there! The man, the youth who wanted (eternal) life! Sleep, like a fog, blew over him." his wife said to Utnapishtim the Faraway: “Touch him, let the man awaken. Let him return safely by the way he came. Let him return to his land by the gate through which he left.” … The wife of Utnapishtim the Faraway said to him: “Gilgamesh came here exhausted and worn out. What can you give him so that he can return to his land (with honor) !” Then Gilgamesh raised a punting pole and drew the boat to shore. Utnapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying: “Gilgamesh, you came here exhausted and worn out. What can I give you so you can return to your land? I will disclose to you a thing that is hidden, Gilgamesh, a... I will tell you. There is a plant... like a boxthorn, whose thorns will prick your hand like a rose. If your hands reach that plant you will become a young man again.” Hearing this, Gilgamesh opened a conduit(!) (to the Apsu) and attached heavy stones to his feet. They dragged him down, to the Apsu they pulled him. He took the plant, though it pricked his hand, and cut the heavy stones from his feet, letting the waves(?) throw him onto its shores. Gilgamesh spoke to Urshanabi, the ferryman, saying: “Urshanabi, this plant is a plant against decay(!) by which a man can attain his survival(!). I will bring it to Uruk-Haven, and have an old man eat the plant to test it. The plant's name is ‘The Old Man Becomes a Young Man’. ”Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth.” At twenty leagues they broke for some food, at thirty leagues they stopped for the night. Seeing a spring and how cool its waters were, Gilgamesh went down and was bathing in the water. A snake smelled the fragrance of the plant, silently came up and carried off the plant. While going back it sloughed off its casing.” (In other words, it became renewed with life) (126) (126)http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/ |