The Great Monster Read online

  ‘This will cut down a cedar tree with one blow,’ he boasted.

  ‘One blow?’ His new friend Gilgamesh gasped.

  ‘Well... maybe two,’ Enkidu said.

  The palace kitchens filled sacks with beef and ox tongues – they had run out of larks – and with bread and fruits. The two warriors carried leather bottles of water and wine.

  No one in Uruk worked that day. They all went to the old and rotten wooden gates to say goodbye to the heroes.

  ‘Goodbye,’ an old man cried. ‘Come home safe.’

  ‘Good riddance,’ the old woman snapped, sourly. ‘I don’t care if you never come back at all.’

  ‘We need new gates,’ the old man reminded her.

  The old woman took a deep breath. ‘Come home safe,’ she called.

  And so, Gilgamesh and Enkidu set off. They climbed hills and snow-capped mountains. They hacked through forests and fought off the wild creatures that lived there.

  And on the seventh day, they reached the far side of the trees and looked out at the gloomy, looming Cedar Mountain.

  *

  ‘What happened next, Sin-leqi?’ the hunters asked.

  ‘Did they slay the demon Humbaba?’

  The boy shrugged. ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow, when I’ve read the next tablet.’

  ‘Awwww,’ the hunters groaned.

  In the shadows of the hall wall, the girl Ninsun laughed softly. ‘Clever boy, Sin-leqi. Very clever.’

  4

  The Demon and the Cedar

  Ninsun was a quick learner, and Sin-leqi found it was good to share the stories on the old clay tablets. ‘But who taught you to read?’ the girl asked.

  ‘The priest in the temple,’ he replied. ‘He thinks I may take his job one day.’

  ‘You want to be a priest?’ Ninsun asked.

  ‘It’s better than hunting... I like eating meat, but I hate the killing and the skinning and the blood.’

  ‘I like eating meat too,’ Ninsun said. ‘You could give me some of yours tonight when your brothers feast.’

  ‘I only have enough for myself,’ he said with a scowl.

  ‘Ask for more,’ the girl said. Sin-leqi was about to argue, but she went on, ‘I am going to help you. You are helping me to read, so I will help you to tell a better story.’

  ‘You think I need help?’

  ‘Yes – the first part of the story ends tonight. Then your brothers will make you hunt, kill and get blood all over your hands. I can tell you how to leave them wanting to hear more tomorrow night... and the night after.’

  ‘Can you?’ Sin-leqi said.

  ‘Come on. Let’s get to the feasting hall. All that reading’s made me hungry.’

  And so they hurried through the cool evening dust on the street. Sin-leqi told his tale...

  *

  The heroes heard the demon Humbaba roar before they saw him. The mountain shook and rocks tumbled towards them, but the two warriors were too quick.

  Humbaba sent a wild bull, but Gilgamesh killed it with his sword. A thunderbird appeared, breathing fire, but Gilgamesh threw his spear into its heart.

  At last, the demon stood before them – a human shape, but with seven layers of armour. His sword was as long as a man is tall, and his breath was foul enough to melt the mountain snows.

  ‘I am Gilgamesh,’ the king said. ‘I have come to take the greatest cedar in the forest, to build new gates for Uruk.’

  ‘Is that what you think, little man?’ the demon boomed. ‘I will kill you. I will cut open your belly and feed your flesh to the birds.’

  ‘Maybe we will kill you first,’ Enkidu said.

  ‘Hah,’ the demon sneered. ‘I am not afraid of a hairy man who looks like a dog. When I’ve killed Gilgamesh, I shall kill you and feed you to the fishes in the river.

  He raised his huge sword and whirled it round his head. Gilgamesh stepped back, afraid. But Enkidu said, ‘Forward, my friend – don’t be afraid.’

  Gilgamesh was trembling. ‘I am not afraid... I am just being careful.’

  ‘Then carefully aim your spear at Humbaba’s heart,’ Enkidu told the king.

  The spear flew fast and true. It tore through the first coat of armour, it ripped into the second and it went clear through the third. The spear made a hole in the fourth layer, but slowed down and hardly scratched the fifth, where it stopped.

  Humbaba snapped the mighty spear shaft like a twig. He threw it aside, lifted his sword again and brought it down on Gilgamesh.

  The king tried to meet the blow with his own sword, but it shattered in his hand. Gilgamesh tumbled back and the demon’s sword buried itself in the rocky ground. Enkidu swung his axe and, before Humbaba could free his sword, the hairy man had hacked at the demon’s arm. That arm was thick as a cedar tree and, though it bled, the blow didn’t stop Humbaba pulling his sword from the earth and marching forward to finish Gilgamesh. ‘It’s a scratch, hairy man, a scratch. You can watch as I slice your king open...’

  ‘You cannot kill us,’ Enkidu cried.

  The demon blinked. ‘I think you will find that spilling your king’s guts on the ground will kill him, little man.’

  ‘The god Shamash will save us,’ Gilgamesh shouted, struggling to his feet.

  ‘I can’t see him,’ Humbaba said, and laughed.

  But, as he laughed, the skies turned black and the wind began to swirl and raise the dust. Shamash sent thirteen winds, and each one threw dust in the demon’s eyes.

  Humbaba cried out and dropped his sword to rub his eyes, and stumbled towards the river. When he felt the icy river at his feet, he knelt and scooped the water to wash out the dust.

  Humbaba shook his head and looked up. Gilgamesh was holding the demon’s mighty sword.

  ‘Spare me,’ Humbaba wailed. He looked at the king, with tears washing the last of the dust from his eyes. ‘Spare me, the way you once spared Enkidu.’

  The king turned to the hairy man. ‘If I let him live, he may serve us. He could guard Uruk better than cedar gates.’

  The demon gave an ugly twist of the face that was meant to be a smile. ‘Dear Gilgamesh, you can be king of the forest. I will cut the trees for you, and be your slave.’

  Enkidu shook his head. ‘Never trust a demon, my dear friend. He is lying. Kill him.’ And, with a fierce blow, Gilgamesh struck the head off the demon.

  The heroes entered the forest and cut down the greatest cedar, and then a smaller one.

  They built a raft from the smaller tree and returned home down the river with the giant tree... and the head of Humbaba.

  And so, the heroes’ first adventure ended.

  *

  The hunters clapped loudly. ‘A good story, Sin-leqi,’ his uncle said. ‘Tomorrow you can be Gilgamesh and slay a monster bull for us to eat. That would be fun to watch.’ The hunters laughed.

  ‘No,’ came a voice from the shadows. Ninsun stepped forward. ‘If you make Sin-leqi hunt, you will never hear the other adventures of Gilgamesh.’

  ‘What other adventures?’ a hunter asked.

  ‘You won’t hear about the goddess who fell in love with Gilgamesh, and what terrible punishment followed when he turned her down. You won’t hear about the king’s search for the secret of life. There are lots of stories.’

  ‘How do you know?’ Sin-leqi’s uncle asked. ‘You can’t read. Girls can’t read.’

  Ninsun gave him her warmest smile. ‘But I can.’

  ‘It’s all wrong, girls reading,’ a hunter grumbled.

  ‘Ah, but I am going to be a priestess,’ Ninsun told him.

  ‘Are you?’ the man asked.

  ‘Are you?’ Sin-leqi asked.

  ‘Yes. If you can be a priest in the temple, Sin-leqi, then I can be a priestess. There are lots of goddesses and they need a woman to look after them.’

  Sin-leqi nodded wisely. ‘I suppose the goddesses will need lots of gifts of food.’

  ‘Mmmm,’ the girl agreed. ‘Now let’s go,’ she said, and took S
in-leqi by the hand.

  ‘Where are we going?’ the boy asked, as she pulled him down the street.

  ‘To the temple, of course. You are going to tell the priest that the temple needs me as a priestess.’

  ‘Why am I going to do that?’

  Ninsun stopped, and peered at the boy in the gloom. ‘Because we are friends... like Gilgamesh and Enkidu. I just saved you from the hunt the way Enkidu saved Gilgamesh from Humbaba. See?’

  Sin-leqi grinned. ‘So, I am Gilgamesh the handsome and strong. That makes you Enkidu, the ugly one. You’ll be good at that.’

  Ninsun gave a cry of rage, but wise Sin-leqi was already running away from her. He didn’t stop until they reached the temple – their new home.

  FACT FILE

  The Story

  The legend of Gilgamesh is a myth – an old story. People in the Stone Age must have told lots of stories. We can guess the stories must have been about heroes and gods and monsters.

  Then, 5,200 years ago, the Sumerian people of Mesopotamia (the place that is now Iraq) invented writing. The story of Gilgamesh is probably the earliest story that we know was written down. It was written about 4,000 years ago, and parts of the story were copied around 3,000 years ago. It is this copy that tells most of the ancient story.

  The True Story

  Some historians believe that the story of Gilgamesh was not just a fairy-tale. They say that there really was a King Gilgamesh, and that he was cruel to his people until one man, Enkidu, stood up to the bully-king. They became friends and Gilgamesh learned to be a kinder man.

  Sin-leqi-unninni

  Sin-leqi-unninni was a priest who lived in Mesopotamia around 3,000 years ago. He made copies of the old stories. King Ashurbanipal had a copy of Sin-leqi’s stories in his library. They were forgotten for 1,500 years, but then found in the ruins of the king’s palace around 600 BCE.

  Sin-leqi-unninni’s name means ‘the moon god hears my prayers’.

  YOU TRY

  Monster Mash-up

  People have been making up monsters and strange beasts for a long time. They appear in cave-paintings and are still popular in films and books today. Some of the most famous are:

  Dragons: Fire-breathing lizards with scaly skin, serpent eyes, bat wings and talons.

  Griffins: Creatures that guard the gods. A griffin had the body, tail and back legs of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, and an eagle’s talons for front feet.

  Egyptian gods: Humans with animal heads, like jackal-headed Anubis, cobra-headed Amunet, lion-headed Sekhmet and falcon-headed Horus.

  Kamadhenu: The mother of all cattle in India. She was a cow with a human head, a peacock tail and bird wings.

  Can you draw and name a completely new monster, made up of bits of other animals and humans?

  The Story Goes On...

  You have read the story of Gilgamesh and how Humbaba was killed. The next tablet of Sin-leqi goes on with the story.

  • The goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, wants to marry Gilgamesh.

  • Gilgamesh refuses, so Ishtar sends the ‘Bull of Heaven’ to punish the people of Uruk with drought, famine and plague.

  • Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the beast, and throw the bull’s back legs in the face of Ishtar.

  • Ishtar sends a nasty disease to kill Enkidu.

  Can you write this story as if you are Sin-leqi?

  Quaint Cure

  Enkidu died of the terrible disease sent by Ishtar, slowly and in great pain. Can you invent a medicine to save him? Make a list of the things you will use BUT they must all begin with the letter ‘M’!

  Terry Deary’s Stone Age Tales

  Look out for more exciting stories set in the Stone Age!

  Terry Deary’s Saxon Tales

  If you liked this book why not try Terry Deary’s Saxon Tales?

  BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION

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  BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  This electronic edition published in 2018

  Text copyright © Terry Deary, 2018

  Illustrations copyright © Tambe, 2018

  Terry Deary and Tambe have asserted their rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author and Illustrator of this work

  This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN: PB: 978-1-4729-5035-2; ePub: 978 1 4729 5036 9; ePDF: 978 1 4729 5034 5

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