33 "Why are thy cheeks wasted? Thy face is bowed down,

34 Thine heart is sad, thy form is dejected.

35 Why is there lamentation in thy heart?"

39 "Why should not my cheeks be wasted, my face bowed down,

40 My heart sad, my form dejected?"

"Death hath carried off my dear friend Enkidu, who traversed the mountains with me, who fought with lions and killed them, and who was with me in all my difficulties. I wept over him for six days and nights before I would let him be buried."

57 "I was horribly afraid....

58 I was afraid of death, and therefore I fled through the country. The fate of my friend lieth heavily upon me,

59 Therefore am I travelling on a long journey through the country. The fate of my friend lieth heavily upon me,

60 Therefore am I travelling on a long journey through the country.

61 How is it possible for me to keep silence about it? How is it possible for me to cry out [the story of] it?

62 My friend whom I loved hath become like the dust. Enkidu, my friend whom I loved, hath become like the dust.

63 Shall not I myself also be obliged to lay me down

64 And not rise up until the appointed Day?"

65 Gilgamish [continued] to speak unto the woman [saying]:

66 "[O] woman, which is the way to Uta-Napishtim?

67 What is the description thereof? Give me, give me the description thereof.

68 If it be possible I will cross the sea,

69 If it be impossible I will travel by land."

70 Then she answered and said unto Gilgamish:

71 "There is no passage most assuredly, O Gilgamish.

72 And no one, from the earliest times, hath been able to cross the sea.

73 The passage is hard, and the way is difficult.

74 And the Waters of Death which block the other end of it are deep.

75 How then, Gilgamish, wilt thou be able to cross the sea?

76 When thou arrivest at the Waters of Death what wilt thou do?"

81 "If it be possible cross with the boatman, and if it be impossible come back."

Gilgamish found Ur-Shanabi, the boatman, and went up into the boat with him, and they made a voyage of one month and fifteen days; on the third day they reached the limit of the Waters of Death, which the boatman told Gilgamish not to touch with his hand. And Uta-Napishtim, seeing the boat coming, went down to the shore, and Gilgamish told him the reason for his coming.

Uta-Napishtim warned Gilgamish that on earth there is nothing permanent; that God, the Arranger of destinies, hath settled the life and death of man, and that none may know the day of his death or escape from death.