The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest surviving works of literature in human history, inscribed as a poem in the Akkadian language on clay tablets c. 2100 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia. It tells the story of Gilgamesh, the ruthless god-king of the city of Uruk. As a check on his power, the goddess Aruru shapes a wild man out of water and clay and releases him in the woods where he lives as a beast among the animals. On hearing this, the sun-god sends a priestess of the sun temple to educate this beast and bring him into civilization. This is the story of the taming of the beast who would eventually take the name Enkidu and go on to befriend Gilgamesh.
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Shamhat stepped cautiously around the boulders to slowly approach the watering hole, her bare feet pressing through the pebbles with every step. She left the tools of her trade neatly wrapped in a satchel by her feet, waiting to be used on her return. Behind her lay the hiding spot, high above the water where she and the hunter had laid waiting three nights, watching every wild beast and creature that gathered at the watering hole. The hunter, now terrified, did not waste a breath to witness her as he turned around and fled in the other direction as fast as his feet would carry him. Shamhat's gaze was fixed straight in front of her as she stepped into the morning mist rising over the water. A herd of gazelle had appeared around one end of the watering hole, their heads bent down to the stream, occasionally rising up with their foot long antlers, looking for disturbances. Marking the middle of the herd was the beast.
He was stooped over his shoulder with his face in the stream, drinking from it like he was one with the herd, and yet his back and large shoulders were nearly bare, that of a man. Shamhat watched as he raised himself out of the water to sit high on his knees. His long hair reached down to his waist dripping with water. She watched him let out a yawn, his broad chest stretching, covered in matted hair all the way down to his belly and his groin, his sex hanging down beneath him. Shamhat carried herself tall, her face devoid of any expression and clear eyes mirroring the stream as she stepped into ankle-deep water, and yet she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. Her deep breaths matched a slow rhythm honed over long years of training in the arts of pleasure and control. She was still on one side of the water when the herd, as one, noticed her presence and looked up at her.
Shamhat now stood still with her goatskin robe wrapped around her in the morning breeze. The beast looked upon her and felt the same fear and disquiet as he had felt when he was near the hunter in earlier days, but he also sensed something different. The being in front of him was tall, yet not as tall as him. She had sharp features, and her hair, long to the waist like his own, was flowing free with the air. The world around them stood still as Shamhat and the beast looked at each other for many moments. And then, Shamhat's face lit up with a faint hint of a smile.