Tablet IV, Section 1a

THE FOURTH TABLET. THE ARRIVAL AT THE GATE OF THE FOREST. . . 36. Enkidu lifted [his eyes] . . . and spake with the Gate as [’t were human(?)]: "O thou Gate of the Forest without understanding(? . . . Sentience which thou hast not, . . . . 40. I for (full) forty leagues have admired thy [wonderful] timber, (Aye), till I sighted the towering Cedar . . . . (O but) thy wood hath no peer (in the country) . . . Six gar thy height, and two gar thy breadth . . . 45. (Sooth, but) thy stanchion (?), thy socket (?), thy pivot (?), thy lock (?), and thy shutter (?), [(All of them) must have been fashion’d for thee] in the City of Nippur! O, if I had but known, O Gate, that this was [thy grandeur], This, too, the grace [of thy structure], then either an axe had I lifted 50. Or I had . . . or bound together . . . ." : 6. ". . . [O, haste] thee, withstand him, he will not [pursue(?) thee], [We will] go on down into the wood not daunted, together (?)]. . . . Thou shall put on seven garments .. . . . putting on, and six . . . (?) . . . " 10. He like a mighty wild bull . . . Flung he the Portal afar, and [his] mouth was fill’d (with his challenge), Cried to the Guard of the Forest: "Up (?) . . . ! [’Tis I will challenge] Humbaba like to a . . ." "Trouble (?) [I foresee(?)] wherever I go . . . . 5. O my friend, I have [seen] a dream which un- . . . ." The day of the dream he had seen fulfilled . . . . . Enkidu lay for a day, [yea, a second]—for Enkidu [lying] 10. (Prone) on his couch, was a third and a fourth day . . ., a fifth, sixth and seventh, Eighth, ninth, [and tenth]. While Enkidu [lay in his] sickness . . ., th’ eleventh, (Aye, till) the twelfth . . . on [his] couch was Enkidu [lying]. 15. Call’d he to Gilgamish, . . . . . . . . . "(O but), my comrade, . . . hateth me . . because within Erech I was afraid of the combat, and . . . My friend, who in battle . . ." : 26. [Enkidu open’d] his [mouth] and spake [unto Gilgamish, saying]: ("Nay, but), [my friend, let us no wise] go down [to the depths of the Forest], (For) ’tis my hands [have grown weak], and [my arms] are stricken with palsy." ________________________________ Gilgamish open’d his mouth and spake [unto Enkidu], saying: 30. "Shall we, O friend, [play] the coward? . . . . . . . . . . thou shalt surpass them all(?) . . . . [Thou, O] my friend, art cunning in warfare, art [shrewd(?)] in the battle, (So) shalt thou touch the . . . and of [death] have no terror, . [So that] the palsy (now striking) thine arms [may] depart, and the weakness Pass [from thy hands]!