he fountain took possession of it:
who am I that I should tear it from him?'" He re-embarks in sadness,
he re-enters Uruk the well-protected, and at length begins to think of
celebrating the funeral solemnities of Eabani, to whom he was not able
to show respect at the time of his death. He supervises them, fulfils
the rites, intones the final chant: "The temples, thou shalt enter them
no more; the white vestments, thou shalt no longer put them on; the
sweet-smelling ointments, thou shalt no longer anoint thyself with them
to envelop thee with their perfume. Thou shalt no longer press thy
bow to the ground to bend it, but those that the bow has wounded shall
surround thee; thou no longer holdest thy sceptre in thy hand, but
spectres fascinate thee; thou no longer adornest thy feet with wings,
thou no longer givest forth a sound upon the earth. Thy wife whom thou
lovedst thou embracest her no more; thy wife whom thou hatedst thou
beatest her no more. Thy daughter whom thou lovedst thou embracest her
no more; thy daughter whom thou hatedst, thou beatest her no more. The
resounding earth lies heavy upon thee, she who is dark, she who is
dark, Tjinazu the mother, she who is dark, whose side is-not veiled with
splendid vestments, whose bosom, like a new-born animal, is not covered.
Eabani has descended from the earth to Hades; it is not the messenger
of Nergal the implacable who has snatched him away, it is not the plague
which has carried him off, it is not consumption that has carried him
off, it is the earth which has carried him off; it is not the field of
battle which has carried him off, it is the earth which has carried him
off!" Gilgames dragged himself along from temple to temple, repeating
his complaint before Bel and before Sin, and at length threw himself
at the feet of the god of the Dead, Nergal: "'Burst open the sepulchral
cavern, open the ground, that the spirit of Eabani may issue from the
soil like a blast of wind.' As soon as Nergal the valiant heard him,
he burst open the sepulchral vault, he opened the earth, he caused the
spirit of Eabani to issue from the earth like a blast of wind." Gilgames
interrogates him, and asks him with anxiety what the state of the dead
may be: "'Tell, my friend, tell, my friend, open the earth and what thou
seest tell it.'--'I cannot tell it thee, my friend, I cannot tell it
thee; if I should open the earth before thee, if I were to tell to thee
that which I have seen, terror wo