II. TWO MORPHOLOGICAL PARALLELS TO THE JONAH STORY
2.2.2 Summary of the Lugalbanda Narrative
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folklorists' old romantic preconceptions about the Volk give way to a more inclusive understanding of what constitutes folklore as argued by Dundes and others. The astute reader will notice features within this particular story that make a folkloristic reading not only possible but also desirable.
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Once the morphology of the Lugalbanda cycle is explained and diagrammed we will compare that with the morphology of the ―Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor‖ and we may begin to evince a typology based on at least fourteen shared functions.
I. Preparation and the March (pre-liminal; lines 1-74 of L I)
The epic is set in vague, mythologized terms near the creation of the world ―in ancient days when heaven was separated from earth‖ (A.10) during which the city Unug enjoyed preeminence among Sumerian polities.121 This story is deliberately staged during a period reconcilable with Sumerian historiography, yet there is a clear sense of removal from the present age. The remainder of the prologue emphasizes the industry of humankind–levees, canals, agriculture–juxtapositioned against the untamed elements of nature encountered later. This setting thus frames a sort of ―golden age‖ in which feats of human ingenuity are in harmony with the cycles of nature. From the narrator's
perspective this past era also allowed for more simplistic, dichtomous, or extreme representations of people and things as symbols of virtue or discord.
In media res we meet with Enmerkar, the king of Unug, who is resolute in his desire to destroy Aratta for reasons not clearly stated. Aratta‘s description as a ―rebel land‖ (A.13; α.23) suggests an indigenous revolt against occupiers from Unug; but the third-person narration does not go further in providing a retrospective history. Rather, preparations are underway for a lengthy and taxing campaign against Aratta. Enmerkar musters his massive army to the sounds of horns across the kingdom, and troops gather in such numbers that ―they covered the ground like a heavy fog, the dense dust whirled up
121 Unug is another name for Uruk. Also referenced heavily is Kulaba (also Kulab) which is an ancient sector of the city devoted to the sky-god An. Sumerian poetry very frequently uses alternate names in parallel poetic formations.
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by them reached to heaven‖ (A.13). The army's departure from Unug itself is described briefly, yet there is an emphasis on the overland distance this army crosses to reach the boundary of their land: ―Five days passed. On the sixth day they bathed…and on the seventh122 day they entered the mountains. Their crossing of the pathways was a huge flood rising upstream to a lake‖ (α.48-51), or ―an enormous flood billowing upstream into a lagoon‖ (A.13).123
The army‘s journey up to this point is somewhat laconic in comparison to the description of this liminal boundary, and the nature of the text seems to change as if to reflect the crossing of that boundary. Following a description of King Enmerkar the narrator rather disjointedly introduces Lugalbanda by name for the first time:
Seven they were, seven they were,
Seven were the young lads born in Kulab.
Uraš had born these seven, the Wild Cow had suckled them with milk.
They were heroes, the handsomest in Sumer and princely in their prime.
...These seven were lieutenants of companies, They were captains of regiments.
...Lugalbanda was the eighth of them.
[...] was washed in water.
He went forward in modest silence; He loosened the [...] of the king, and marched out with the troops. (α.59-74)
Thus we are introduced to Lugalbanda as an afterthought; he is the runt of the group and seemingly a mere retainer of the divinely propelled king. The principal matter of this narrative concerns Lugalbanda's ascension to heroic status as a precursor to his eventual stewardship of Unug‘s throne. That the purported weakest, youngest or least of a group
122 The number seven recurs throughout this wondertale –an example of what Dundes calls a ―pattern number.‖ Interpreting Folklore, 135.
123 The text is legible but its meaning is mysterious. At the least this would seem to be some sort of liminal threshold.
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turns out to be the best is a common folkloric meme.124 The crossing of this liminal threshold provides an appropriate backdrop for the Lugalbanda‘s introduction since the boundary itself serves as an indirect reminder of Sumerian cosmology and myth, both of which are linked to the ideology of kingship foreshadowed by Lugalbanda‘s deeds.
II. Lugalbanda‘s Illness, Recovery, and Transformation (liminal, lines 75-500 of L I and lines 1-202 of L II)
At some point about halfway through the journey to Aratta (the text is not very specific), Lugalbanda is stricken with a mysterious and crippling "affliction of the head"
which leaves him incapacitated (α.75-77). None of his comrades is able to help him. In a scene portending Lugalbanda's death and funeral, his companions move Lugalbanda to a mountain cave and assemble goods and victuals. His mouth remains closed and he takes no breath. Lugalbanda‘s brothers take counsel with one another, reluctantly agreeing to leave Lugalbanda in the mountain cave with provisions, to continue their campaign.
They hope to return to this place after their campaign to retrieve his corpse (A.15, α.131- 147), presumably to take him home for a proper burial.
Two and a half days of misery for Lugalbanda ensues. At the end of the third day, he finally petitions the god Utu (the sun) for healing as Utu prepares to depart the sky and pass into inaccessible darkness:
In the mountain cave, the most dreadful place on earth, let me be ill no longer! Here where there is no mother, there is no father, there is no acquaintance, no one whom I value…Don't make me flow away like water in a violent death! Don't make me eat saltpetre as if it were barley! Don‘t
124 Alster, "Epic Tales from Ancient Sumer," 2323; We are reminded also of the frequent appearance of this sequence in apologetic texts, which themselves demonstrate a more pointed interest in folkloric
representations than in factual reporting.
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make me fall like a throwstick somewhere in the desert unknown to me!‖
(A.15).125
In a most interesting interlude, Utu receives Lugalbanda‘s pleas and dispatches Inana to him. She appears before Lugalbanda and ―with power of life she let him go to sleep just like the sleeping Utu‖ (A.16). During this further episode Lugalbanda's symbolic death is emphasized, and the most basic dichotomies of existence become manifest; at the twilight between day and night, between life and death, between compassion and desertion
Lugalbanda exists in a state of delicate tension.
In succession, the astral deities ―accept his tears and gave him life.‖ The gods‘
compassionate rays of light propel Lugalbanda from the cave and into the open, where Utu, ―had caused life-saving plants to be born. The rolling rivers, mothers of the hills, brought life-saving water. After biting on the life-saving plants, after sipping from the life-saving water…he sped away like a horse of the mountains‖ (A.17). Thus begins a series of heroic and fantastic feats performed by Lugalbanda. Though ―not knowing how to bake bread or a cake,‖ he still manages to bake cakes of giziešta-dough. He hews juniper trees from the soil, in order to craft halters and fetters with their roots.
Lugalbanda captures wild goats and even a wild brown bull, a prize worthy of the gods.
He is overtaken by weariness and sleeps but is visited in his dreams by Zangara, god of dreams, and is instructed to sacrifice the brown bull he had just captured. Lugalbanda awakens and sacrifices the goats and bull as ordered, so that he may provide a sacred banquet for the gods. ―Divine‖ Lugalbanda is portrayed as an equal to the gods at this juncture, as he ―makes‖ all the great gods descend upon this pit in the mountains to attend
125Inana (Venus), Su‘en (the moon), and Utu (sun) are astral deities, perhaps each representing a different stage of the transition to evening. Their successive actions reflecting the transition of cosmic time.
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his divine banquet. The remainder of the first text extols the gods individually but is fragmentary before breaking off completely for an unknown number of lines.
The second Lugalbanda text opens with Lugalbanda still stranded alone in the mountains but now healthy. At some point, Lugalbanda had become aware of the fearsome Anzud bird (also Anzû or Imdugud) nearby and knows where it has nested its young. The absolute isolation of this place is repeatedly emphasized: ―in the mountains where no cypresses grow, where no snake slithers, where no scorpion scurries…the Anzud bird had set its nest and settled his young inside" (β.36-41). Lugalbanda realizes that for fear of lethal force he must approach with great caution; Anzud is a powerful chimera, with ―sparkling eyes‖ (B.25) and ―shark‘s teeth and an eagle‘s claws. In terror of him wild bulls run away into the foothills, stags run away into the mountains‖ (β.47- 49). Lugalbanda deftly prepares sweet cakes for Anzud's chick and even nurtures the creature in the hope of pleasing Anzud. Initially fearing that his offspring had been stolen because the young chick did not call back from the nest, Anzud and his wife cry loudly in grief. These cries make the Anunna (the collective of the greatest of
Mesopotamian deities) ―crawl into crevices like ants,‖ but Anzud is delighted to see that his young has been well-cared for. Anzud blesses the as yet unseen stranger for his kindness and Lugalbanda realizes that it is safe to present himself.
Lugalbanda exchanges flatteries with Anzud and Anzud happily declares that Lugalbanda will have his wish granted. Most significantly, Anzud ―adopts‖ Lugalbanda and Lugalbanda allows himself to be adopted into Anzud‘s protection like a ―father‖
(β.126-128; B.25), stating repeatedly that ―I would like you to decide my fate‖ (β.131).
Lugalbanda chooses to receive the gift of speed and makes a promise to Anzud
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foreshadowing his future kingdom and cementing the covenant just enacted: ―I shall have woodcarvers fashion statues of you, and you will be breathtaking to look upon. Your name will be made famous in Sumer and will resound to the credit of the great gods‖
(B.26).
With Lugalbanda running quickly along the ground, the Anzud flies on high and spots the troops from Unug. But Anzud apparently does not want to be seen by other humans: ―‘What I have told you, the fate I have fixed for you, do not explain it to your brothers…Leave me to my nest, you keep to your troops‘ The bird hurried to his nest.‖
Thus Anzud leads Lugalbanda back to the companions who had abandoned him (B.27;
β.223) but remains in his own world, having interacted only with Lugalbanda.
III. Lugalbanda's Return to Humanity (post-liminal, lines 220-417 of L II)
Lugalbanda is immediately beset with questions from the perplexed generals who did not expect to see him again: ―How is it that you have come back from the great mountains, where no one goes alone, from where no one returns to mankind?‖ (B.27).
But Lugalbanda answers only vaguely and in metaphors, making no mention of his near- death, the celestial banquet, or, importantly, the encounter with Anzud. His brothers embrace and kiss him as if he were ―a chick sitting in his nest, they feed him and give him drink,‖ (B.28) an obvious replay of Lugalbanda's beavior. Lugalbanda‘s symbolic rebirth into and nurturing from the human community in this way complements his return.
The forces of Unug spend a number of months besieging Aratta to no avail and as the winter looms Enmerkar decides to send somebody back to Unug for the purpose of
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propitiating the goddess Inana and hastening the victory of the troops from Unug.
Lugalbanda volunteers to do this but with the condition that he travel alone, apparently to conceal his superhuman advantage in speed. In a matter of hours he traverses vast
stretches of land and arrives in Unug‘s Kulaba district. Lugalbanda approaches Inana in her temple there and delivers Enmerkar‘s plea. Inana tells Lugalbanda that to conquer the foreign city Enmerkar must first capture a certain magical fish, cook, and present it as his offering. The epic ends with a short, retrospective exaltation of Aratta and
Lugalbanda. This abrupt ending has caused some to speculate that this narrative is in fact just the beginning of a much larger narrative in which the fish is caught and Aratta
eventually subjugated, but there is no evidence of this internally.