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Chapter 8  
     
1.
 When all was made ready the God Shamash appeared before me.
 
2.
 He signified to me that at even-tide a great flood would be loosed upon the earth.
  
3.
 "A rain-flood came at even-tide.
 
4.
 I watched the darkness coming and the storm.
 
5.
 Terror possessed me as I watched.
 
6.
 I went within where my family were and the beasts and birds were in pairs, and I bolted down the doors; yea, I bolted down the nine parts which I had made inside the ship.
 
7.
 I committed the ship and all that was on board of it to the mercy of the Gods.
  
8.
 "Then a black cloud came up, and out of the black cloud and the whirlwind the Gods thundered.
 
9.
 The Star Gods of the Southern Sky brandished their torches.
 
10.
 Every gleam of light was turned to darkness.
 
11.
 Floods descended out of the heavens.
 
12.
 The waters attacked mankind as in a battle.
 
13.
 Fathers no longer saw their children; brother no longer saw brother.
 
14.
 The rains descended until the waters mounted to the tops of the hills.
 
15.
 As they mounted up, the Gods themselves were filled with fright; they went out of their own places; they went into the high heaven of Anu.
 
16.
 Ishtar, the Lady of the Gods, cried out like a woman in travail.
 
17.
 Yea, Ishtar lamented, crying against herself for speaking of this flood in the presence of the Gods.
 
18.
 The Gods of the Southern Sky wailed with her, and for six days and six nights rain fell and the wind beat down all that was upon the land.
  
19.
 "But after the seventh day the raging flood ceased; the whirlwind and the rain-storm ceased, and the waters no longer rose.
 
20.
 I looked over the waters; I saw that calm had come.
 
21.
 Calm had come, but the land had been laid out flat, and mankind had been turned to mud.
 
22.
 I bowed myself down; I fell upon my face and tears flowed down my cheeks.
 
23.
 I looked to the four quarters of the world and all that I saw was the open sea.
 
24.
 Then for twelve days the ship went on. The ship rested on the mountain of Nisir and it moved no more.
  
25.
 "And when, after seven days, the ship still rested, I opened an air-hole and light fell upon my face.
 
26.
 I let a dove fly forth. The dove came back to the ship for there was no place for her to light.
 
27.
 I let a swallow fly forth. The swallow also returned.
 
28.
 I let a raven fly forth. The raven did not return; she saw the land come up through the sinking waters; she ate; she pecked on the ground; she croaked, and did not come back to me.
  
29.
 "Then I brought out all that was on board the ship; I brought all to where the four winds blew.
 
30.
 I offered up a sacrifice.
 
31.
 I poured out a libation where I stood upon the peak of the mountain.
 
32.
 There Ishtar, the Lady of the Gods, appeared before me; she cursed Bel for having brought about the flood.
  
33.
 "The God Bel was wroth seeing that a portion of mankind had been saved from the flood.
 
34.
 He raged. He cried out, 'None shall be left alive; no man shall be left living in this destruction!
 
35.
 But the God En-urta pleaded with Bel for mankind, and Bel relented.
 
36.
 Then the God Ea went to the ship, and took me by the hand, and brought me forth and brought my wife forth; he turned our faces towards one another and made us kneel together.
 
37.
 He blessed us, saying, 'Formerly Uta-Napishtim and his wife were mortals; now let Uta-Napishtim and his wife be like the Gods themselves, having immortal life.'"
  
38.
 The tables having been read to the end, Gilgamish said, "How may I go to where Uta-Napishtim is, and what is the way to his dwelling?
 
39.
 I would go to him whom the Gods have made undying and find out from him how a man may save himself from going down into that abyss that is Irkalla's."
  
40.
 His mother said, "All that we know is that the dwelling-place of Uta-Napishtim is beyond Mount Mashu, where the sun rises and sets."
  
41.
 Thereupon Gilgamish set out for Mount Mashu.
 

 
 
 

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