Inanna and the Huluppu Tree

In the first days, in the very first days,
in the first nights, in the very first nights,
in the first years, in the very first years,
in the first days, when everything that was necessary had been created,
in the first days, when everything that was necessary was properly nurtured,
when bread was baked in the shrines of the land
when bread was tasted in the homes of the land,
when the sky had moved away from the earth,
when the earth was separated from heaven,
when the name of man was fixed,
when An had taken the sky,
when Enlil had taken the earth,
when the Queen of the Great Below, Ereshkigal,
was given the netherworld for her domain,
at that time, a tree, a single tree
was planted on the banks of the Euphrates.

Enki, the father, planted the Huluppu tree.
The god of wisdom planted it on the banks of the Euphrates,
before the waters of the Euphrates drew Enki into the sea,
before his boat was pulled down towards the netherworld.

The tree was nourished by the waters of the Euphrates,
the very waters that carried Enki into the sea.
Small wind stones were tossed against his boat.
Large hailstones were hurled up against him,
like approaching turtles.
They threw themselves onto the keel of Enki’s boat.
The keel of Enki’s boat was overwhelmed
in the fight against the attacking storm.
The water at the head of the boat devoured the king like a wolf.
The water at the rear of the boat stroke Enki down like a lion.
The swirling south wind rose up and blew against the tree.
It tugged at its roots, it tore at its branches,
until the waters of the Euphrates carried the tree away.

The young woman Inanna,
who walked in fear of no man
and did not want to be owned,
who wandered around anxiously at the word of An,
who wandered around anxiously at the word of Enlil,
pulled the tree out of the river and brought it to Uruk.

(It is possible that the windstones refer to throwing stones and the hailstones to arrows made from reed. That paragraph was intentionally written ambiguously by the author)

Inanna pulled the tree out of the river and spoke:

“I will bring this tree to Uruk. I will plant it in my sacred garden.”

Inanna tended the tree with her hand. She firmed the earth around the tree with her foot. She asked herself:

“How long will it be before I have a shining throne to sit on? How long will it be before I have a luscious bed to lie on?”

The years passed: five years, then ten years. The tree grew thick. Its trunk did not branch out. Then a serpent who could not be charmed built its nest in the roots of the tree. The Anzu bird placed its young in the branches and the dark maiden Lilith built her house in the trunk.

The young woman, who loved to laugh, cried. How Inanna cried! But they didn’t want to leave her tree.

When the birds began to sing at dawn, the sun god Utu left his royal bedchamber. Inanna called to her brother Utu and said:

“O Utu, in the days when the fates were decreeed, when the land blossomed in abundance, when the territories of the great gods were divided and Enki’s boat was pulled down to the netherworld, I pulled the Huluppu tree out of the Euphrates, planted it in my holy garden and tended it while I waited for my shining throne and my luscious bed.

Then a serpent who cannot be charmed nested in the roots. The Anzu bird placed its young in the branches, and the dark maiden Lilith built her house in the trunk. I wept. And how I wept! But they won’t leave my tree.”

Utu, the brave warrior Utu, did not want to help his sister Inanna.

Who could help Inanna in her quest for domination? It could only be a hero on a quest, Gilgamesh, the hero of Uruk. When the birds began to sing at the second dawn, Inanna called the hero Gilgamesh and said:

“O Gilgamesh, in the days when the fates were decreeed, when the land blossomed in abundance, when the territories of the great gods were divided, then I pulled the tree from the Euphrates, then I planted it in my holy garden and tended it, and since then I have waited for my shining throne and my luscious bed.

Then a serpent that cannot be charmed nested in the roots. The Anzu bird placed its young in the branches and the dark maiden Lilith built her home in the trunk. I cried, and how I cried! But they won’t leave my tree.”

Gilgamesh, the brave warrior, Gilgamesh, the hero of Uruk, stood by Inanna’s side. Gilgamesh strapped his armor, which weighed fifty mina, around his chest. The fifty mina weighed as little to him as fifty feathers. He lifted his bronze axe, the axe of the road, which weighed seven talents and seven minas, to his shoulder. He entered the holy garden of Inanna.

Gilgamesh slew the serpent, who refused to be charmed. The Anzu bird flew into the mountains with its young, and Lilith smashed her house and fled into the wild, uninhabited regions.

Gilgamesh then loosened the roots of the tree, and the sons of the city who accompanied him cut off its branches. He gives the tree to the holy Inanna for her throne, gives it to her for her bed. Inanna forms its roots into a pukku for him,

forms its crown into a mikku for him, the hero of Uruk.

Gilgamesh played the pukku in the wide square in Uruk and never wanted to stop playing it. He praised himself on the wide court and never wanted to stop praising himself.

The young men of his town played (danced?) after the Pukku [until they collapsed from exhaustion]. Those who had no offspring to care for them ended up on top of the rubbish heap. They lamented: “Oh my neck! Oh my hips!” For those who had a mother, the mother brought bread for her son. For those who had a sister, the sister brought water for her brother.

When evening came, Gilgamesh marked the spot where the pukku had been placed, picked up the pukku in front of him and took it home. But early in the morning, when he went to the marked place, the widows accused him and the young girls complained. His pukku and mikku fell through a hole to the bottom of the underworld.

Gilgamesh put in his hand, but could not reach them. He put in his foot, but could not reach them. He sat down at the great gate Ganzer, the entry to the netherworld. Gilgamesh wept, his face turned pale.