Beside the drinking-place he came across him,
The first day, the second day, the third day, beside the drinking-place he came across him.
The hunter saw him, and his (Êa-banî's) countenance became stern,
(He) and his wild beasts entered his house,
(He became an)gry, stern, and he called out.”
Apparently he did not like being watched so long by the hunter, and becoming suspicious of his intentions, showed resentment, and tried to drive him away. It may be noted by the way, that this description of Êa-banî would answer excellently to the state attributed for a time to Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel.
The hunter has a conversation with his father, who [pg 094] was with him, and the upshot of it is that they decide to communicate to Gilgameš an account of the terrible man whom they had seen. It was therefore decided to try to catch or, rather, entice him to Erech by means of a female named Samḫat. In accordance with the instructions received, therefore, the hunter took with him the woman who was intrusted to him, and they awaited Êa-banî in the same place, by the side of the water. After watching for him for two days, they got into communication with him, and the woman asked him why he dwelt with the wild animals, depicting at the same time all the glory of Erech the walled and the nobility of Gilgameš, so that he soon allowed himself to be persuaded, and, in the end, went and took up his abode there.
Various things are then narrated, the most important of them being the episode of the Elamite Ḫumbaba, the same name, though not the same person, as the Kombabos of the Greeks.
Gilgameš seems to have gone to a place where there was a forest of cedar-trees, accompanied by Êa-banî. Near this place, apparently, there was a splendid palace, the abode (?) of a great queen. Judging from what remains of the text, they ask their way of her, and she it is who seems to tell them how to reach the dominions of the potentate whom they seek.
“A distant road is the place of Ḫumbaba.