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Chapter 3  
     
1.
 The Gods harkened to the prayers of the people of Erech; they said in the Council of the Gods, "Behold, Gilgamish lays upon the people labours that crush them.
 
2.
 The life goes out of them, and they no longer can offer sacrifice to the Gods.
 
3.
 He lays these labours upon them because he alone is mighty in the world. But if we make one who is mightier than he, Gilgamish will be abashed when he sees that one, and no longer will he think that he is lord of all; then will he not engage in labours that give his people no rest."
  
4.
 The Gods called upon the Goddess Aruru.
 
5.
 And Aruru considered in her heart how she would make one who was mightier than Gilgamish.
 
6.
 Thereafter she washed her hands and she took clay and mixed her spittle into it.
 
7.
 And Aruru made a being, a living male creature that was in the likeness of the God Anu.
 
8.
 His body was covered all over with hair so that he appeared to be clothed in leaves.
 
9.
 The Gods named him Enkidu, and they gave him the wild places of the earth for his portion.
  
10.
 And Enkidu, mighty in stature, invincible in strength, lived in these wild places.
 
11.
 Gilgamish passed through the land he dwelt in, but saw him not.
 
12.
 Gilgamish passed through the land to make war upon Khumbaba who dwelt in the country where the forests of cedars are.
 
13.
 Those who went with him were struck with awe when they saw the cedars in their height and in their closeness of growth together; they were worn out because of their journey and the fear that possessed them, and they prayed to the Gods to deliver them from under the hand of a king who had a heart that was so restless.
 
14.
 They came upon Khumbaba whose voice was like the roar of a storm, whose breath was like a gale of wind.
 
15.
 They fought the armies of Khumbaba, these soldiers of Gilgamish, and Gilgamish himself fought Khumbaba and with his own hand slew him.
 
16.
 And then Gilgamish and his army passed through the country where Enkidu maintained himself, but they saw not Enkidu.
 
17.
 And Enkidu, mighty in stature, invincible in strength, drank the water that the wild cattle drank and ate the herbs that the gazelles lived on; he was a friend to the wild beasts and he knew not the faces of men.
  
18.
 Now when Gilgamish returned to Erech, his city, after having overthrown Khumbaba, he heard the women in his palace sing:
  
19.
 Who is splendid among men, Who is glorious among heroes?
  
20.
 And he heard the women answer back, one to the other: Gilgamish is splendid among men, Gilgamish is glorious among heroes.
  
21.
 But he remembered what had been told him about the House of Dust and the Abyss of the Goddess Irkala; he groaned, and the tears coursed down his face.
  
22.
 Below the forest of cedars dwelt a hunter, a young man who dug pits and laid nets for the wild beasts that were upon the mountains.
 

 
 
 

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