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Shamhat and Enkidu

…So the trapper set out on his journey to Uruk and adressed himself to Gilgamesh saying, ’A man unlike any other is roaming now in the pastures; he is as strong as a star from heaven and I am afraid to approach him. He helps the wild game to escape; he fills in my pits and pulls up my traps.’ Gilgamesh said, ‘Trapper, go back, take with you a harlot, a child of pleasure. At the drinking-hole she will strip, and when he sees her beckoning he will embrace her and the game of the wilderness will surely reject him.’

Now the trapper returned, taking the harlot with him. After a three days’ journey they came to the drinking-hole, and there they sat down.; the harlot and the trapper sat facing one another and waited for the game to come. For the first day and the second day the two sat waiting, but on the third day the herds came; they came down to drink and Enkidu was with them. The small wild creatures of the plains were glad of the water, and Enkidu was with them, who ate grass with the gazelle and was born in the hills; and she saw him, the savage man, come from far-off in the hills. The trapper spoke to her: ‘ There he is. Now, woman, make your breasts bare, have no shame, do not delay but welcome his love. Let him see you naked, let him posess your body. When he comes near uncover yourself and lie with him; teach him, the savage man, your woman’s art, for when he murmurs love to you the wild beasts that shared his life in the hills will reject him.’

She was not ashamed to take him, she made herself naked and welcomed his eagerness; as he lay on her mumuring love she taught him the woman’s art. For six days and seven nights they lay together, for Enkidu had forgotten his home in the hills; but when he was satisfied he went back to the wild beasts. Then, when the gazelle saw him, they bolted away; when the wild creatures saw him they fled. Enkidu would have followed, but his body was bound as though with a cord, his knees gave way when he started to run, his swiftness was gone. And now the wild creatures had all fled away; Enkidu was grown weak, for wisdom was in him, and the thoughts of a man were in his heart. So he returned and sat down at the woman’s feet, and listened intently to what she said. ‘ You are wise, Enkidu, and now you have become like a god. Why do you want to run wild with the beasts in the hills? Come with me. I will take you to strong-walled Uruk, to the temple of Ishtar and of Anu, of love and of heaven; there Gilgamesh lives, who is very strong, and like a wild bull he lords it over men.’

- The Epic of Gilgamesh, an English version with an introduction by N. K. Sandars



For those of you who know Swedish, there is a more recent translation. As you will see it differs quite a great deal from the English version, this may depend on which version of the Epic of Gilgamesh has been translated but also, I believe, is a sign of when it was translated. The English version is from 1972 and the Swedish version from 2001. I prefer the Swedish version because it’s much more erotic but also because they use the word for "harlot" as a personal name which I think makes the character in the Epic a lot more interesting and sympathetic.

Swedish

My name

Shamhat and Enkidu

Swedish

Enki, king of the Abzu.
"Seeing the doctor" in Mesopotamia