THE GIZDUBAR LEGEND 319 



and his breath poison." The sixth tablet, which is well 

 preserved, tells how the hero was beloved of Ishtar. "Be 

 my husband," she says, " and I will be thy wife. I will 

 make thee to ride in a chariot of gold and precious stones, 

 with golden wheels and diamond horns. When thou 

 enterest our house under the pleasant fragrance of the 

 cedar, men shall kiss thy feet. Kings, princes, and lords 

 shall bow down before thee, and bring tribute." Gizdubar, 

 however, is not to be seduced ; he repels the advances of 

 the goddess, who then presents herself as a naturally 

 angry woman before her father Anu, and persuades him 

 to frame a divine bull which is to destroy Gizdubar. 



He and Eabani together slay 

 this bull, however, and the 

 goddess, now terribly incensed, 

 pronounces a terrible curse upon 

 Gizdubar. The seventh tablet 

 is, unfortunately, missing. The 

 eighth, ninth, and tenth narrate 

 how Gizdubar, suffering under p IG . 93. Scorpion Men. 

 the divine anger, loses his friend F / " Chaidea," story 



. 8 . of the Nations. After 



Eabani, and is smitten with a Smith. 

 grievous illness. 



He journeys to the river's mouth to consult his divine 

 ancestor Sitnapistim. On his way he crosses a desert 

 where "scorpion men" guard the dark path to the 

 " waters of the dead," which separate him from his 

 quest (Fig. 98). 



On the shore of this sea he finds a park of the gods, 

 with wonderful trees bearing precious stones for fruit. 

 After waiting here a long time a ferryman takes him over 

 to the fields of the blessed, where he meets Sitnapistim. 

 He tells his sorrowful tale, and the heart of Sitnapistim 

 is filled with pity ; but, alas ! neither gods nor men can 

 give him help. In the eleventh tablet Gizdubar inquires, 



