Tablet I: The Wild Man

He who saw the Deep, the foundation of the land, who knew everything, was wise in all things — Gilgamesh, who saw the Deep, the foundation of the land. He saw what was secret, and uncovered what was hidden; he brought back a tale of the time before the Flood. He went on a distant road, and came back weary and at peace; and he set down all his labours on a tablet of stone.

He built the wall of Uruk-the-Sheepfold, of holy Eanna, the pure treasury. See its wall, like a strand of wool; look at its parapet, which no one can equal. Take the stairway, which is from ancient times; go close to Eanna, the dwelling of Ishtar, which no later king, no man, can equal. Go up on the wall of Uruk and walk around; examine its foundation, inspect its brickwork: is it not of baked brick? Did not the Seven Sages lay its foundations? A square mile of city, a square mile of orchards, a square mile of clay pits, half a square mile of the temple of Ishtar: three square miles and a half is Uruk's extent. Find the cedar box; open its lock of bronze; take out the tablet of lapis lazuli, and read it aloud: all that Gilgamesh went through, all his hardships.

Gilgamesh was two-thirds god and one-third man; the goddess Ninsun was his mother, the hero Lugalbanda his father. He was tall, magnificent, terrible, like a wild bull, without equal. But in his restless strength he gave the people of Uruk no rest: he would leave no son to his father, no girl to her mother; he would challenge the young men to contests, and wear them out. And the people cried out to the gods.

The gods heard their complaint, and they told the mother goddess, Aruru: "You created him; now create his equal, a match for the storm of his heart; let them contend with each other, and let Uruk have peace." Aruru washed her hands, pinched off a piece of clay, and threw it into the wilderness; and she created Enkidu, the warrior. His whole body was covered with hair; his hair was long like a woman's, thick like barley. He knew nothing of people or of the land; he ate grass with the gazelles, he jostled with the wild beasts at the watering place, he delighted in the water with the animals.

A trapper saw him at the watering place, three days running, and was frozen with fear: this wild man was pulling up his traps and filling in his pits, and letting the animals go. He told his father; and his father told him to go to Uruk, to Gilgamesh, and ask for a woman — Shamhat, one of the temple women of Ishtar — to take with him into the wilderness. "When the animals come to drink at the watering place, let her take off her clothes, and show herself to him; he will see her, and come to her, and the animals that grew up with him will turn away from him."

So it was done. Shamhat and the trapper waited at the watering place three days. The animals came, and Enkidu with them; and Shamhat showed herself to him, and he came to her; and for six days and seven nights Enkidu was with Shamhat. Afterwards he turned to go back to his animals; but the gazelles saw him and ran away, and the wild beasts fled from him. Enkidu tried to run after them; but his knees stood still, his body was weak, he could not run as before. But he had gained something: reason, and broad understanding.

Enkidu's humanising by Shamhat is told in the poem frankly but without dwelling; it is given here in outline.

He came back and sat at Shamhat's feet, and listened to her. "You are handsome, Enkidu; you are like a god. Why do you roam the wilderness with the animals? Come, let me take you to Uruk-the-Sheepfold, to the holy temple, the home of Anu and Ishtar, where Gilgamesh is perfect in strength, and lords it over the people like a wild bull." And Enkidu wanted a friend; he said: "I will challenge him; I will shout in Uruk: I am the mightiest!"

Gilgamesh, meanwhile, had two dreams, and told them to his mother, the wise goddess Ninsun. He dreamed that a meteor, a lump of the sky-god Anu, fell down beside him, too heavy to lift; the people of Uruk gathered round it, and he loved it like a wife, and brought it to his mother. And he dreamed of an axe lying in the street of Uruk, and he loved it like a wife. Ninsun told him what they meant: "A strong companion will come to you, a friend who saves his friend; he is the mightiest in the land; you will love him like a wife; he will never forsake you."