[Lines 1-25 broken]
(26) Corpses in the water make the river almost overflow.
That is what I see. That will happen to me too – that is the way things go.
No one is tall enough to reach heaven;
no one can reach wide enough to stretch over the mountains.
(30) Since a man cannot pass beyond the final end of life,
I want to set off into the mountains, to establish my renown there.
Where renown can be established there, I will establish my renown;
and where no renown can be established there, I shall establish the renown of the gods."
Utu accepted his tears as a fitting gift. (35) As befits a compassionate person, he turned to him full of compassion:
"Now there are seven warriors, sons of a single mother.
The first, their eldest brother, has lion's paws and eagle's talons.
The second is a … snake, ….
The third is a dragon snake, ….
(40) The fourth blazes with fire ….
The fifth is a … snake, …. The sixth beats at the flanks of the mountains.
The seventh … flashes like lightning, and no one can deflect it.

4 lines fragmentary} {(another ms. adds instead 6 lines:) 2 lines fragmentary …… kingship ……. Nisaba has bestowed …… on you in addition. They ……, and know the routes on earth. They will help you find the …… of the way.} They should guide you to the place in the mountains where the boats have to be pulled from the water! {The warrior, youthful Utu, gave these seven to Gilgameš.} {(3 mss. have instead the line, placed after line 43:) These seven the warrior, youthful Utu, gave to Lord Gilgameš.} The feller of cedars was filled with joy; Lord Gilgameš was filled with joy." 48-51. In his city he had the horn sounded for single men; similarly for two together he made them call out. "Let him who has a household go to his household! Let him who has a mother go to his mother! Let bachelor males, types like me, {(4 mss. add:) – fifty of them –} join me at my side!" 52-60. Whoever had a household went to his household. Whoever had a mother went to his mother. Bachelor males, types like him – there were fifty – joined him at his side. He made his way to the blacksmith's, and had them cast …… weapons and axes, the strength of warriors. Then he made his way to the deeply shaded plantations, where he had ebony trees felled, and ḫalub trees, apricot trees, and box trees. He …… to his fellow-citizens who were going with him. {(1 ms. adds:) Warriors, sons of a single mother …….} The first, their eldest brother, has lion's paws and eagle's claws. They will guide him to the place in the mountains where the boats have to be pulled from the water. 61. He crossed the first mountain range, {but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there} {(1 ms. has instead:) the cedars did not catch his attention}. {(the same ms. adds:) He crossed the second mountain range, but the cedars did not catch his attention. He crossed the third mountain range, but the cedars did not catch his attention. He crossed the fourth mountain range, but the cedars did not catch his attention. He crossed the fifth mountain range, but the cedars did not catch his attention. He crossed the sixth mountain range, but the cedars did not catch his attention.} {(another ms. adds instead:) unknown no. of lines missing He crossed the third mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the fourth mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the fifth mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there. He crossed the sixth mountain range, but his intuition did not lead him to find the cedars there.} 62-67. When he had crossed the seventh mountain range, there his intuition led him to find the cedars. He did not need to ask, nor did he have to search any further. Lord Gilgameš began to chop at the cedars, {{while Enkidu lopped off their branches, …… to Gilgameš.} {(1 ms. has instead:) while Enkidu …… their branches, and his fellow-citizens …….} {(1 ms. adds:) to ……, Enkidu …….} …… stacked them in piles. {(1 ms. adds:) Ḫuwawa …….} He loosed his terrrors against …….} {(instead of lines 65-67, 1 ms. has:) while Enkidu cut up the timbers, and the widows' sons who had come with him heaped them up in piles. Since, because of the ……, Ḫuwawa had been scared in his lair by Gilgameš, he began to radiate his terrors …….} 68-75. Gilgameš …… was overcome by sleep, and it affected Enkidu …… as a powerful longing. His fellow-citizens who had come with him flailed around at his feet like puppies. Enkidu awoke from his dream, shuddering from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes; there was eery silence everywhere. He touched Gilgameš, but could not rouse him. He spoke to him, but he did not reply. 76-84. "You who have gone to sleep, you who have gone to sleep! Gilgameš, young lord of Kulaba, how long will you sleep for? The mountains are becoming indistinct as the shadows fall across them; the evening twilight lies over them. Proud Utu has already gone to the bosom of his mother Ningal. Gilgameš, how long will you sleep for? The sons of your city who came with you should not have to wait at the foot of the hills. Their own mothers should not have to twine string in the square of your city." 85-89. He thrust that into his right ear; he covered him with his aggressive words as if with a cloth {(1 ms. adds:) , laid them out like linen}. He {gathered} {(3 mss. have instead:) picked up} in his hand a cloth with thirty shekels of oil on it and {smothered} {(1 ms. has instead:) rubbed} it over Gilgameš's chest. Then Gilgameš stood up like a bull on the great earth. Bending his neck downwards, he yelled at him: 90-91. "By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! Am I to become again as if I were slumbering still on the lap of my own mother Ninsumun?" 92-95. A second time he spoke to him: "By the life of my own mother Ninsumun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda! Until I discover whether that person was a human or a god, I shall not direct back to the city my steps which I have directed to the mountains." 96-97. The slave, trying to ameliorate the situation, trying to make life appear more attractive, answered his master: 98-106. "My master, you have not yet really seen that person, he should not vex you. – But he vexes me – me, who have seen him before. His pugnacious mouth is a dragon's maw; his face is a lion's grimace. His chest is like a raging flood; no one {dare approach} {(1 ms. has instead:) can escape from} his brow, which devours the reedbeds. {(2 mss. adds 1 line:) A man-eating lion, he never wipes away the blood from his slaver.} {(1 ms. adds instead 5 lines:) 1 line fragmentary …… a lion eating a corpse, he never wipes away the blood 3 lines fragmentary} Travel on, my master, up into the mountains! – but I shall travel back to the city. If I say to your mother about you "He is alive!", she will laugh. But afterwards I shall say to her about you "He is dead!", and she will certainly weep {over you} {(1 ms. has instead:) bitterly}." {(1 ms. adds:) …… replied to ……:}