SEE SITCHIN’S EARTH CHRONICLES, ETC.
Artifacts and parenthetical commentary added by editor R. Brown.
Seeking a ride in the “Bird of Heaven”, Lugalbanda pleaded with its custodian; his words immortalized man’s desire to fly:
“Like Utu let me go, like Inanna,
Like the Seven Stormers of Ishkur
in a flame let me lift myself off, and thunder away!
Let me go wherever my eyes can see,
Wherever I desire, let me set my foot,
Wherever my heart wishes, let me arrive…”
When he arrived at Mount Hurum (“whose front Enlil as with a great door had closed off”), Lugalbanda was challenged by the guardian:
“If a god you are, a word in friendship will I utter which will let you enter;
If a man you are, your fate will I decree…”
To which:
“Lugalbanda, he of beloved seed, stretched his hand out (and said)
‘Like divine Shara am I, the beloved son of Inanna’…”
But the guardian of the sacred place turned Lugalbanda down