Tablets I-III: The Beginning

This is the story of Gilgamesh the king of Uruk two-thirds a god, one-third a man; and son of Lugalbanda and of the lady Wildcow Ninsun. His is thought the smartest, and feared by most of the people. What I haven’t quit gotten is that if he did great things to protect Uruk why people are not content with him? “The old men say: ‘Is this the shepherd of the people? Is this the wise shepherd of the people? Is this the wise shepherd, protector of the people? … They called the goddess Aruru saying to her: You made this man. Now create another. Create his double and let the two contend. Let stormy hearts contend with stormy heart that peace may come to Uruk once again.” Pg 5

Aruru does create his double, Enkidu he is the wild man of the grasslands the first one to see him is a hunter. This hunter comes to Gilgamesh and tells him that Enkidu has protected the animals by unsetting his traps and filled his hunting pits. Gilgamesh sends him back with a temple prostitute that with her beauty will attract the wild man and the creature that followed him will flee from him and this is what happens.

Gilgamesh told his mother a vision that he had; he described his attraction towards a star that landed out side Uruk and this is when Ninsun Gilgamesh mother tells him that a companion that will not forsake him has come. Meanwhile, Shamhat the temple prostitute convinced Enkidu to come to Uruk with her, when arriving Enkidu went to challenge Gilgamesh and they had a type of confrontation. “Then Enkidu and Gilgamesh embraced and kissed, and took each other by the hand” pg15 I think Gilgamesh understood that Enkidu is his companion that will not forsake him, that he saw in his dream and that his mother described. After this Enkidu and Gilgamesh talked about Cedar Forest and decided to go and face Huwawa the guardian of the forest.