Sophus Helle Quotes

“Give me your blessing! Then I will go.
Unharmed may I see your faces again,
triumphant may I step through Uruk’s gate.

“When I return, I will hold New Year twice,
from now I will always hold New Year twice.
Let us celebrate the festival, let us sing in joy,
let the drums thunder for Ninsun!”
― Unknown, The Epic of Gilgamesh

“Enkidu gave counsel to the elders,
to the men of Uruk, who know how to fight:
“Tell him not to go to the Cedar Forest!
This journey cannot be made,
this creature cannot be seen.

“The guardian of the cedars is ·[lacuna]·
Humbaba: his howl is a flood,
his voice is fire, his breath is death.

“He hears every whisper for a thousand miles around him.
Who would dare to go near him?
Humbaba is the greatest, second only to the Storm God.
Would even the gods defy him?

“To keep the cedars safe from harm,
Enlil has made him the terror of men.
Despair strikes all who step into his forest.”
― Unknown, The Epic of Gilgamesh