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Lugulbanda

Lugalbanda

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
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Lugalbanda lies idle in the mountains, in the faraway places; he
has ventured into the Zabu mountains. No mother is with him to
offer advice, no father is with him to talk to him. No one is with
him whom he knows, whom he values, no confidant is there to talk to
him. In his heart he speaks to himself: "I shall treat the bird as
befits him, I shall treat Anzud as befits him. I shall greet his
wife affectionately. I shall seat Anzud's wife and Anzud's child at
a banquet. An will fetch Ninguenaka for me from her mountain home
-- the expert woman, who redounds to her mother's credit, Ninkasi
the expert, who redounds to her mother's credit: her fermenting-vat
is of green lapis lazuli, her beer cask is of refined silver and of
gold; if she stands by the beer, there is joy, if she sits by the
beer, there is gladness; as cupbearer she mixes the beer, never
wearying as she walks back and forth, Ninkasi, the keg at her side,
on her hips; may she make my beer-serving perfect. When the bird
has drunk the beer and is happy, when Anzud has drunk the beer and
is happy, he can help me find the place to which the troops of Unug
are going, Anzud can put me on the track of my brothers."

Now the splendid 'eagle'-tree of Enki on the summit of Inana's
mountain of multi-coloured cornelian stood fast on the earth like a
tower, all shaggy like an aru. With its shade it covered the
highest eminences of the mountains like a cloak, was spread out
over them like a tunic. It roots rested like sajkal snakes in Utu's
river of the seven mouths. Nearby, in the mountains where no
cypresses grow, where no snake slithers, where no scorpion
scurries, in the midst of the mountains the buru-az bird had put
its nest and laid therein its eggs; nearby the bird Anzud had set
its nest and settled therein its young. It was made with wood from
the juniper and the box trees. The bird had made the bright twigs
into a bower. When at daybreak the bird stretches himself, when at
sunrise Anzud cries out, at his cry the ground quakes in the Lulubi
mountains. He has a shark's teeth and an eagle's claws. In terror
of him wild bulls run away into the foothills, stags run away into
their mountains.

Lugalbanda is wise and he achieves mighty exploits. In preparation
of the sweet celestial cakes he added carefulness to carefulness.
He kneaded the dough with honey, he added more honey to it. He set
them before the young nestling, before the Anzud chick, gave the
baby salt meat to eat. He fed it sheep's fat. He popped the cakes
into its beak. He settled the Anzud chick in its nest, painted its
eyes with kohl, dabbed white cedar scent onto its head, put up a
twisted roll of salt meat. He withdrew from the Anzud's nest,
awaited him in the mountains where no cypresses grow. At that time
the bird was herding together wild bulls of the mountains, Anzud
was herding together wild bulls of the mountains. He held a live
bull in his talons, he carried a dead bull across his shoulders. He
poured forth his bile like ten gur of water. The bird flew around
once, Anzud flew around once. When the bird called back to his
nest, when Anzud called back to his nest, his fledgling did not
answer him from its nest. When the bird called a second time to his
nest, his fledgling did not answer from its nest. Before, if the
bird called back to his nest, his fledgling would answer from its
nest; but now when the bird called back to his nest, his fledgling
did not answer him from its nest. The bird uttered a cry of grief
that reached up to heaven, his wife cried out "Woe!" Her cry
reached the abzu. The bird with this cry of "Woe!" and his wife
with this cry of grief made the Anuna, gods of the mountains,
actually crawl into crevices like ants. The bird says to his wife,
Anzud says to his wife, "Foreboding weighs upon my nest, as over
the great cattle-pen of Nanna. Terror lies upon it, as when wild
bulls start butting each other. Who has taken my child from its
nest? Who has taken the Anzud from its nest?"

But it seemed to the bird, when it approached its nest, it seemed
to Anzud, when it approached its nest, that it had been made like a
god's dwelling-place. It was brilliantly festooned. His chick was
settled in its nest, its eyes were painted with kohl, sprigs of
white cedar were fixed on its head. A twisted piece of salt meat
was hung up high. The bird is exultant, Anzud is exultant: "I am
the prince who decides the destiny of rolling rivers. I keep on the
straight and narrow path the righteous who follow Enlil's counsel.
My father Enlil brought me here. He let me bar the entrance to the
mountains as if with a great door. If I fix a fate, who shall alter
it? If I but say the word, who shall change it? Whoever has done
this to my nest, if you are a god, I will speak with you, indeed I
will befriend you. If you are a man, I will fix your fate. I shall
not let you have any opponents in the mountains. You shall be
'Hero-fortified-by-Anzud'."

Lugalbanda, partly from fright, partly from delight, partly from
fright, partly from deep delight, flatters the bird, flatters
Anzud: "Bird with sparkling eyes, born in this district, Anzud with
sparkling eyes, born in this district, you frolic as you bathe in a
pool. Your grandfather, the prince of all patrimonies, placed
heaven in your hand, set earth at your feet. Your wingspan extended
is like a birdnet stretched out across the sky! ...... on the
ground your talons are like a trap laid for the wild bulls and wild
cows of the mountains! Your spine is as straight as a scribe's!
Your breast as you fly is like Nirah parting the waters! As for
your back, you are a verdant palm garden, breathtaking to look
upon. Yesterday I escaped safely to you, since then I have
entrusted myself to your protection. Your wife shall be my mother"
(he said), "You shall be my father" (he said), "I shall treat your
little ones as my brothers. Since yesterday I have been waiting for
you in the mountains where no cypresses grow. Let your wife stand
beside you to greet me. I offer my greeting and leave you to decide
my destiny."

The bird presents himself before him, rejoices over him, Anzud
presents himself before him, rejoices over him. Anzud says to
Lugalbanda the pure, "Come now, my Lugalbanda. Go like a boat full
of precious metals, like a grain barge, like a boat going to
deliver apples, like a boat piled up high with a cargo of
cucumbers, casting a shade, like a boat loaded lavishly at the
place of harvest, go back to brick-built Kulaba with head held
high!" -- Lugalbanda who loves the seed will not accept this.

"Like Cara, Inana's beloved son, shoot forth with your barbed
arrows like a sunbeam, shoot forth with reed-arrows like moonlight!
May the barbed arrows be a horned viper to those they hit! Like a
fish killed with the cleaver, may they be magic-cut! May you bundle
them up like logs hewn with the axe!" -- Lugalbanda who loves the
seed will not accept this.

"May Ninurta, Enlil's son, set the helmet Lion of Battle on your
head, may the breastplate (?) that in the great mountains does not
permit retreat be laid on your breast! May you ...... the
battle-net against the enemy! When you go to the city, ......!" --
Lugalbanda who loves the seed will not accept this.

"The plenty of Dumuzi's holy butter churn, whose fat is the fat of
all the world, shall be granted (?) to you. Its milk is the milk of
all the world. It shall be granted (?) to you." -- Lugalbanda who
loves the seed will not accept this. As a kib bird, a fresh-water
kib, as it flies along a lagoon, he answered him in words.

The bird listened to him. Anzud said to Lugalbanda the pure, "Now
look, my Lugalbanda, just think again. It's like this: a wilful
plough-ox should be put back in the track, a balking ass should be
made to take the straight path. Still, I shall grant you what you
put to me. I shall assign you a destiny according to your wishes."

Lugalbanda the pure answers him: "Let the power of running be in my
thighs, let me never grow tired! Let there be strength in my arms,
let me stretch my arms wide, let my arms never become weak! Moving
like the sunlight, like Inana, like the seven storms, those of
Ickur, let me leap like a flame, blaze like lightning! Let me go
wherever I look to, set foot wherever I cast my glance, reach
wherever my heart desires and let me loosen my shoes in whatever
place my heart has named to me! When Utu lets me reach Kulaba my
city, let him who curses me have no joy thereof; let him who wishes
to strive with me never say "Just let him come!" I shall have the
woodcarvers fashion statues of you, and you will be breathtaking to
look upon. Your name will be made famous thereby in Sumer and will
redound to the credit of the temples of the great gods."

So Anzud says to Lugalbanda the pure: "The power of running be in
your thighs! Never grow tired! Strength be in your arms! Stretch
your arms wide, may your arms never become weak! Moving like the
sun, like Inana, like the seven storms of Ickur, leap like a flame,
blaze like lightning! Go wherever you look to, set foot wherever
you cast your glance, reach wherever your heart desires, loosen
your shoes in whatever place your heart has named to you! When Utu
lets you reach Kulaba your city, he who curses you shall have no
joy thereof; he who wishes to strive with you shall never say "Just
let him come!" When you have had the woodcarvers fashion statues of
me, I shall be breathtaking to look upon. My name will be made
famous thereby in Sumer and will redound to the credit of the
temples of the great gods. May ...... shake for you ...... like a
sandal. ...... Euphrates ...... you feet ......."

He took in his hand such of his provisions as he had not eaten, and
his weapons one by one. Anzud flew on high, Lugalbanda walked on
the ground. The bird, looking from above, spies the troops.
Lugalbanda, looking from below, spies the dust that the troops have
stirred up. The bird says to Lugalbanda, "Come now, my Lugalbanda.
I shall give you some advice: may my advice be heeded. I shall say
words to you: bear them in mind. What I have told you, the fate I
have fixed for you, do not tell it to your comrades, do not explain
it to your brothers. Fair fortune may conceal foul: it is indeed
so. Leave me to my nest: you keep to your troops." The bird hurried
to its nest. Lugalbanda set out for the place where his brothers
were.

Like a pelican emerging from the sacred reed-bed, like lahama
deities going up from the abzu , like one who is stepping from
heaven to earth, Lugalbanda stepped into the midst of his brothers'
picked troops. His brothers chattered away, the troops chattered
away. His brothers, his friends weary him with questions: "Come
now, my Lugalbanda, here you are again! The troops had abandoned
you as one killed in battle. Certainly, you were not eating the
good fat of the herd! Certainly, you were not eating the
sheepfold's fresh cheese. How is it that you have come back from
the great mountains, where no one goes alone, whence no one returns
to mankind?" Again his brothers, his friends weary him with
questions: "The banks of the mountain rivers, mothers of plenty,
are widely separated. How did you cross their waters? -- as if you
were drinking them?"

Lugalbanda the pure replies to them, "The banks of the mountain
rivers, mothers of plenty, are widely separated. With my legs I
stepped over them, I drank them like water from a waterskin; and
then I snarled like a wolf, I grazed the water-meadows, I pecked at
the ground like a wild pigeon, I ate the mountain acorns."
Lugalbanda's brothers and friends consider the words that he has
said to them. Exactly as if they were small birds flocking together
all day long they embrace him and kiss him. As if he were a gamgam
chick sitting in its nest, they feed him and give him drink. They
drive away sickness from Lugalbanda the pure.

Then the men of Unug followed them as one man; they wound their way
through the hills like a snake over a grain-pile. When the city was
only a double-hour distant, the armies of Unug and Kulaba encamped
by the posts and ditches that surrounded Aratta. From the city it
rained down javelins as if from the clouds, slingstones numerous as
the raindrops falling in a whole year whizzed down loudly from
Aratta's walls. The days passed, the months became long, the year
turned full circle. A yellow harvest grew beneath the sky. They
looked askance at the fields. Unease came over them. Slingstones
numerous as the raindrops falling in a whole year landed on the
road. They were hemmed in by the barrier of mountain thornbushes
thronged with dragons. No one knew how to go back to the city, no
was rushing to go back to Kulaba. In their midst Enmerkar son of
Utu was afraid, was troubled, was disturbed by this upset. He
sought someone whom he could send back to the city, he sought
someome whom he could send back to Kulaba. No one said to him "I
will go to the city". No one said to him "I will go to Kulaba". He
went out to the foreign host. No one said to him "I will go to the
city". No one said to him "I will go to Kulaba". He stood before
the élite troops. No one said to him "I will go to the city". No
one said to him "I will go to Kulaba". A second time he went out to
the foreign host. No one said to him "I will go to the city". No
one said to him "I will go to Kulaba". He stepped out before the
elite troops.

Lugalbanda alone arose from the people and said to him, "My king, I
will go to the city, but no one shall go with me. I will go alone
to Kulaba. No one shall go with me." -- "If you go to the city, no
one shall go with you. You shall go alone to Kulaba, no one shall
go with you." He swore by heaven and by earth: "Swear that you will
not let go from your hands the great emblems of Kulaba."

After he had stood before the summoned assembly, within the palace
that rests on earth like a great mountain Enmerkar the son of Utu
berated Inana: "Once upon a time my princely sister Inana the pure
summoned me in her holy heart from the bright mountains, had me
enter brick-built Kulaba. Where there was a marsh then in Unug, it
was full of water. Where there was any dry land, Euphrates poplars
grew there. Where there were reed-thickets, old reeds and young
reeds grew there. Divine Enki who is king in Eridu tore up for me
the old reeds, drained off the water completely. For fifty years I
built, for fifty years I gave judgments. Then the Martu peoples,
who know no agriculture, arose in all Sumer and Akkad. But the wall
of Unug extended out across the desert like a bird net. Yet now,
here in this place, my attractiveness to her has dwindled. My
troops are bound to me as a cow is bound to its calf; but like a
son who, hating his mother, leaves his city, my princely sister
Inana the pure has run away from me back to brick-built Kulaba. If
she loves her city and hates me, why does she bind the city to me?
If she hates the city and yet loves me, why does she bind me to the
city? If the mistress removes herself from me to her holy chamber,
and abandons me like an Anzud chick, then may she at least bring me
home to brick-built Kulaba: on that day my spear shall be laid
aside. On that day she may shatter my shield. Speak thus to my
princely sister, Inana the pure."

Thereupon Lugalbanda the pure came forth from the palace. Although
his brothers and his comrades barked at him as at a foreign dog
trying to join a pack of dogs, he stepped proudly forward like a
foreign wild ass trying to join a herd of wild asses. "Send someone
else to Unug for the lord." -- "For Enmerkar son of Utu I shall go
alone to Kulaba. No one shall go with me" -- how he spoke to them!
"Why will you go alone and keep company with no one on the journey?
If our beneficent spirit does not stand by you there, if our good
protective deity does not go with you there, you will never again
stand with us where we stand, you will never again dwell with us
where we dwell, you will never again set your feet on the ground
where our feet are. You will not come back from the great
mountains, where no one goes alone, whence no one returns to
mankind!" -- "Time is passing, I know. None of you is going with me
over the great earth." While the hearts of his brothers beat
loudly, while the hearts of his comrades sank, Lugalbanda took in
his hand such of his provisions as he had not eaten, and each of
his weapons one by one. From the foot of the mountains, through the
high mountains, into the flat land, from the edge of Ancan to the
top of Ancan, he crossed five, six, seven mountains.

By midnight, but before they had brought the offering-table to
Inana the pure, he set foot joyfully in brick-built Kulaba. His
lady, Inana the pure, sat there on her cushion. He bowed and
prostrated himself on the ground. With (1 ms. adds joyful) eyes
Inana looked at Lugalbanda the pure as she would look at the
shepherd Ama-ucumgal-ana. In a (1 ms. adds joyful) voice, Inana
spoke to Lugalbanda the pure as she would speak to her son Lord
Cara: "Come now, my Lugalbanda, why do you bring news from the
city? How have you come here alone from Aratta?"

Lugalbanda the pure answered her: "What Enmerkar son of Utu quoth
and what he says, what your brother quoth and what he says, is:
"Once upon a time my princely sister Inana the pure summoned me in
her holy heart from the mountains, had me enter brick-built Kulaba.
Where there was a marsh then in Unug, it was full of water. Where
there was any dry land, Euphrates poplars grew there. Where there
were reed-thickets, old reeds and young reeds grew there. Divine
Enki who is king in Eridu tore up for me the old reeds, drained off
the water completely. For fifty years I built, for fifty years I
gave judgments. Then the Martu peoples, who know no agriculture,
arose in all Sumer and Akkad. But the wall of Unug extended out
across the desert like a bird net. Yet now, here in this place, my
attractiveness to her has dwindled. My troops are bound to me as a
cow is bound to its calf; but like a son who, hating his mother,
leaves his city, my princely sister Inana the pure has run away
from me back to brick-built Kulaba. If she loves her city and hates
me, why does she bind the city to me? If she hates the city and yet
loves me, why does she bind me to the city? If the mistress removes
herself from me to her holy chamber and abandons me like an Anzud
chick, then may she at least bring me home to brick-built Kulaba:
on that day my spear shall be laid aside. On that day she may
shatter my shield. Speak thus to my princely sister, Inana the
pure."" "

Inana the pure uttered this response: "Now, at the end, on the
banks, in the water meadows, of a clear river, of a river of clear
water, of the river which is Inana's gleaming waterskin, the
suhurmac fish eats the honey-herb; the kijtur fish eats the
mountain acorns; and the ...... fish, which is a god of the
suhurmac fish, plays happily there and darts about. With his scaly
tail he touches the old reeds in that holy place. The tamarisks of
the place, as many as there are, drink water from that pool. "

"It stands alone, it stands alone! One tamarisk stands alone at the
side! When Enmerkar son of Utu has cut that tamarisk and has
fashioned it into a bucket, he must tear up the old reeds in that
holy place roots and all, and collect them in his hands. When he
has chased out from it the ...... fish, which is a god of the
suhurmac fish, caught that fish, cooked it, garnished it and
brought it as a sacrifice to the a-an-kara weapon, Inana's
battle-strength, then his troops will have success for him; then he
will have brought to an end that which in the subterranean waters
provides the life-strength of Aratta. "

"If he carries off from the city its worked metal and smiths, if he
carries off its worked stones and its stonemasons, if he renews the
city and settles it, all the moulds of Aratta will be his."

Now Aratta's battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and
its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of
tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows.

Praise be to Lugalbanda the pure.

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