The Tablet of Destinies

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A Note About the Author and Translator

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I

This storm was like no other he had known. Shipwrecks he was used to. They marked time, served as reminders. A certain event had happened before the third shipwreck, another after the fifth. Far from dismayed, what he felt was a strange, drunken recklessness, relief almost. Not only had he lost his course, the compass points themselves had disappeared. That was his last exact observation. He knew nothing of what happened next, until the moment when he opened his eyes in a tent. A light breeze stirred the fabric. He had slept, but for how long? Days? Years? In the darkness he recognized a shape. Stretched out, motionless. Another sleeper. For a while Sindbad said nothing. Then the other woke, looked at him, and said:

“This is the home of Utnapishtim, in Dilmun.”

Utnapishtim got up and parted the flaps of the tent. In came a blade of light that lay beside Sindbad. Utnapishtim sat on a stool beside him and said:

“I know who you are. There’s no need to say anything. If you want to listen to me, I’ll be here.”

Then everything grew muddled for Sindbad. When he woke again he had an impression of great clarity. Utnapishtim was still sitting on the stool. He said:

“I’ve been silent so long I don’t know where to start. Anywhere would do. But ancient custom has it that everything begins with the gods.”

There was a brief silence. Then the voice resumed:

“In the beginning the gods walked the earth. They kept themselves busy. They dug ditches, raised up walls. Most of all, they searched for water. It was hard going. They felt oppressed by a heavy yoke. Not all the gods were equal. There were higher gods and lower gods. The Anunnaki had withdrawn to the heavens. They had left the Igigi to struggle on earth. One day they were bound to rebel. Men would learn from them. The Igigi dug out the bed of the Tigris. They grumbled among the heaps of earth they had turned up. Ever more exasperated. What could they do but take arms, attack the sky? Enlil the warrior, the counselor, was roused from his bed. They barred all the doors. They begged help of Anu, who had power over the heavens, and from Ea, deep in the fresh subterranean waters. Enlil wept. He didn’t know what to do. Anu said the Igigi were right. Their lives were too hard, their outcry could be heard in the highest heaven.