Yet now you show your city’s darker faceWhich makes the feral beasts I’ve lived with seemOf higher nature, kinder than yourself!’

First one, then two, then three, then four, then five,Then six, then seven jugs Enkidu downed

Shaved off the wild man’s pelt of matted fur,Massaged his body with sweet-smelling oilThen washed and combed the hair

Of gold on parapets and balconies.Each person carries out their skill or trade:And here you’ll also find your rightful place.’

They knelt and prayed before this piece of rockIn case it brought them luck or changed their fate,But Gilgamesh is made from stronger stock –

Now they knewTheir leader was a god, and knelt to prayAnd give him thanks

But now gazelles ran | flung fearful glancesHoof-beats soon distant | a patter of thunder.

The goddess Aruru makes a wild man from spitand mud to tame Gilgamesh.

He is also a tyrant and oppressor.

‘Go quickly and find | the hierodule ShamhatLike a gazelle | she waits in the templeOffering herself | in Inanna’s service.Take her with you | to the place in the forestThe place where the wild man | drinks from the lakeTell her to lie | undressed by the water-holeShe must be naked | a beautiful snare.Once they’ve had sex | his herd will desert himOnce he has known | the bliss of her bodyHe’ll want to follow her | out of the forestFollow her back | to the city of Uruk.’

The great Aruru | knew the right answerTo fashion a man | equal to Gilgamesh

ong-vanished flesh of the statues’ originals.Page 6

two stone statues

The lake was empty,fallen trees rotting at its bottom, an old bridge rusting into it. Weeds flourished among the long grass in thelawn, over-running the ornamental pathways and carved stone screens

Like a sword, the darkness swooped down across them.

“Axel,” his wife asked with sudden seriousness. “Before the garden dies ... may I pick the last flower?”

number was too small to remain unobserved, particularly when it so obviously marked the progress of theadvancing army

Both of them knew that the garden was dying.

. Axel surveyed her with fond pride

hiswife

The darkened portico of the house, its patina of age stripped away, loomed with a curiousspectral whiteness as if suddenly remembered in a dream

his expressionaloof yet observant

the army was composed of a vast confused throng of people, men and women,interspersed with a few soldiers in ragged uniforms, pressing forward in a disorganised tide

most of the time flowers grew in a small grove just below the terrace, sheltered by thehigh wall which encircled the estate

Here, in the garden, the air seemed brighter, the sunwarmer, while the plain was always dull and remote.

rococo