Tablet VI

1 He washed his matted hair, he cleaned his equipment,
2 he shook his locks down over his back.
3 He cast aside his dirty things, he clothed himself with his clean things,
4 He wrapped himself in cloaks, tied with a sash.
5 Gilgameš put on his crown.
6 The lady Ištar looked covetously on the beauty of Gilgameš:
7 ‘Come, Gilgameš, you be the bridegroom!
8 Grant me your fruits, I insist!
9 You shall be my husband and I will be your wife!
10 Let me harness for you a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold,
11 whose wheels are gold and whose horns are amber.
12 You shall have in harness “storm-lions”, huge mules.
13 Come into our house with scents of cedar!
14 When you come into our house,
15 doorway and throne shall kiss your feet.
16 Kings, courtiers and nobles shall be bowed down beneath you,
17 Produce of mountain and lowland they shall bring you as tribute!
18 Your nanny goats shall bear triplets and your ewes twins,
19 your donkey foal under load shall outpace a mule.
20 At the chariot your horse shall gallop majestically,
21 at the yoke your ox shall acquire no rival.
22 [Gilgameš] opened his mouth to speak,
23 [saying] to the lady Ištar:
24 ‘[If indeed I were] to take you in marriage,
25 [...] myself and my clothing,
26 [where will I get] my food and my sustenance?
27 [will you feed me] bread fit for a god?
28 [will you pour me ale] fit for a king?
29 [...] should I bind,
30 […] should I pile high?
31 [Would…] wrap […] in a cloak?
32 ‘[Why] would I take you in marriage?
33 [You, a frost] that congeals no ice,
34 a slatted door [that does not] block breeze and draught,
35 a palace that massacres warriors,
36 an elephant [that...] its coverings,
37 pitch that [stains the hands] of its bearer,
38 a waterskin that [sullies the hands] of its bearer,
39 a boulder that [smashes] a wall of stone,
40 a battering ram that destroys the [walls of] the enemy land,
41 a shoe that bites the foot of its owner!
42 What bridegroom of yours endured forever?
43 What brave warrior of yours is there [who] went up [heaven?]
44 Come, let me count [the number] of your lovers.
45 As for him of… […] his arm.
46 To Dumuzi the husband of your youth,⁠a
47 to him you have allotted perpetual weeping, year on year.
48 You loved the speckled allallu-bird,
49 you struck him and broke his wing,
50 (now) he stands in the woods crying “My wing!”
51 You loved the lion, perfect in strength,
52 seven and seven pits you have dug for him.
53 You loved the horse, famed in battle,
54 to him you have allotted whip, spurs and lash.
55 To him you have allotted a seven-league gallop,
56 to him you have allotted muddy water to drink.
57 To his mother Silili you have allotted perpetual weeping.
58 You loved the shepherd, the grazier, the herdsman,
59 who regularly piled up for you (bread baked in) embers,
60 slaughtering kids for you every day.
61 You struck him and turned him into a wolf,
62 so his own shepherd boys drive him away,
63 and his dogs take bites at his thighs.
64 You loved Išullānu, your father’s gardener,
65 who regularly brought you a basket of dates,
66 daily making your table gleam.
67 you looked at him covetously and went up to him:
68 “O my Išullānu, let us taste your power!”
69 Put out your hand and stroke our vulva!”
70 Išullānu spoke to you:
71 “Me! What do you want of me?
72 Did my mother not bake? Did I not eat?
73 Am I to eat bread of insults and curses?
74 Shall I let rushes be my covering against the cold?”
75 You heard what [he had to] say,
76 you struck him, you turned [him] into a dwarf.
77 You sat him in the midst of his labours,
78 he cannot go up to the …, he cannot go down to the … […]
79 And you would love me and [change me] as (you did) them?’
80 When Ištar [heard] this,
81 Ištar was furious and [went up] to heaven.
82 Ištar went [weeping] before her father, Anu,
83 her tears flowing before Antu, her mother.
84 ‘O father, Gilgameš has been heaping abuse on me,
85 Gilgameš kept recounting things that insult me,
86 things that insult and revile me.’
87 Anum opened his mouth to speak,
88 saying to the lady Ištar:
89 ‘Well, was it not you who provoked King Gilgameš,
90 so then Gilgameš recounted things that insult you,
91 things that insult and revile you?’
92 Ištar opened her mouth to speak,
93 saying to her father, Anu:
94 ‘O father, give me, please, the Bull of Heaven,
95 that I may slay Gilgameš in his dwelling.
96 If you will not give me the Bull of Heaven,
97 I shall smash the underworld together with its dwelling-place,
98 to the world below I shall grant [manumission,]
99 I shall bring up the dead to consume the living,
100 I shall make the dead outnumber the living.’
101 Anu opened his mouth to speak,
102 saying to the lady Ištar:
103 ‘If you will ask of me the Bull of Heaven,
104 for seven years let the widow of Uruk gather chaff,
105 [and the farmer of Uruk] grow hay.’
106 [Ištar opened her mouth] to speak,
107 [saying to] her father, Anu:
108 [...] already I stored,
109 [...] I made grow.
110 [For seven] years the widow [of Uruk has] gathered chaff,
111 the farmer [of Uruk has grown] hay.
112 With the wrath of the Bull I shall [have vengeance!]
113 Anu heard this speech of Ištar,
114 [and] he placed in her hands the nose-rope of the Bull of Heaven.
115 [Down came] Ištar, leading it onward:
116 when [it] reached the [land] of Uruk,
117 it dried up the woodland, the marshland and the reeds,
118 it went down to the river, (the level of) the river was reduced by seven cubits.
119 At the snort of the Bull of Heaven a pit opened up,
120 a hundred men of Uruk all fell into it.
121 At its second snort a pit opened up,
122 two hundred men of Uruk all fell into it.
123 At its third snort a pit opened up,
124 Enkidu fell in up to [his] waist.
125 Enkidu sprang out and seized the Bull of Heaven by [its] horns;
126 the Bull of Heaven spat saliva at his face,
127 [flicking] its dung with the tuft of its tail.
128 Enkidu opened his mouth [to speak,]
129 saying to Gilgameš:
130 ‘My friend, we boasted about ourselves [in our] city,
131 how shall we make amends for the piled-up people?
132 My friend, I have experienced the might of the Bull of Heaven,
133 so learning [its] strength, [and knowing its] purpose.
134 I will once again [experience] the might of the Bull of [Heaven,]
135 I [shall get me] behind [the Bull of Heaven,]
136 I will seize [it by the tuft of its tail.]
137 I will set [my foot on the back of its hock,]
138 in... [... I will ...it.]
139 Then [you] like a [butcher (…), brave and] skilful,
140 press home your knife between the yoke of the horns and the slaughter-spot.’
141 Enkidu circled round behind the Bull of Heaven,
142 he seized it by the [tuft] of its tail.
143 [He set] his foot on [the back of] its hock,
144 [in...he] ... it.
145 Then Gilgameš like a butcher [(…)], brave and skilful,
146 [pressed home] his knife between the yoke of the horns and the slaughter-spot.
147 After they had slain the Bull of Heaven,
148 they took its heart and set it before Šamaš.
149 They stepped back and prostrated themselves before Šamaš,
150 both of them (then) sat down together.
151 Ištar went up on to the wall of Uruk-the-Sheepfold,
152 she hopped and stamped, she uttered a woeful wail:
153 ‘Woe to Gilgameš, who vilified me, (who) killed the Bull of Heaven!’
154 Enkidu heard this speech of Ištar,
155 he tore a haunch off the Bull of Heaven and threw it down before her.
156 ‘You too, had I caught you, I would have treated you like it!
157 I would have draped its guts on your arms!’
158 Ištar assembled the courtesans, prostitutes (and sex workers),
159 she instituted mourning over the Bull of Heaven’s haunch.
160 Gilgameš summoned the craftsmen, all the smiths,
161 for the craftsmen to praise the thickness of its horns.
162 Thirty minas of lapis lazuli each was their mass,
163 Two minas each their rims,
164 six kor of oil was the capacity of both.
165 He dedicated (them) for the anointing of his god, Lugalbanda,
166 he took (them) in and hung (them) in his bed-chamber.
167 They washed their hands in the River Euphrates,
168 they took each other (by the hand) to go forward.
169 As they drove along the street of Uruk,
170 the people of Uruk were gathered to look [at them.]
171 Gilgameš spoke a word to the serving girls of [his house:]
172 ‘Who is the finest among men?
173 Who is the most glorious of fellows?’
174 ‘Gilgameš is the finest among men!
175 [Gilgameš is the most] glorious of fellows!’
176 ‘[...whom] we knew in our fury!’
177 ‘[...in] the street he has none that defames him,
178 […] … […] way of his […!]’
179 Gilgameš made merry in his palace.
180 The men were lying down, that were asleep on beds for the night,
181 Enkidu was lying down, seeing a dream.
182 Enkidu arose to reveal the dream,⁠b
183 saying to his friend: