Urshanabi and Death's Deep Lake

I am totally fascinated with the physicality in this passage. It will be a puzzle, but should be a lot of fun to figure out. Slashing through the jungle, crushing the stone pillars, crossing death's deep lake in a canoe made of bundled poles pushed across a lake full of death and decay - speed, hands, boat, poles, scale, dynamics.

The text for this passage:

Death's Deep Lake

Gilgamesh:

Urshanabi, the Boatman?

Urshanabi: (Inspecting Gilgaemesh for signs of life and purpose, he finds clues on Gilgamesh's person. he speaks mostly to himself)

Hmmm, you have not seen your home in a very long time.

Gilgamesh:

I’ve come to see Utnapishtim, great father of us all who survived the flood.  




Urshanabi:
No bed, no roof, wandering aimlessly in the wild. You passed through Mashu like a champion, did you not? Yes, we saw you. Yes, hell itself is part of how you look. 

Gilgamesh:

You are the boatman, aren’t you? I can smell the sweet sick of death on you. 

Urshanabi:
Hmmm, an overlord, king... perhaps.

Gilgamesh:

I am Gilgamesh. Take me across this sea of the death. 

Urshanabi:
Ah, yes... you are two parts Anunnaki, one part Adamu. 

Gilgamesh:

I am not a refugee wandering aimlessly. I am High Council of our creator, Enki, and King of his city Uruk. 


Urshanabi:
You have grief dripping from your shoulders. You wreak of despair. 

Gilgamesh:

I grieve for Enkidu,  my companion and true friend. Death has reached him first and left me to weep and wail for his shriveling corpse which scares me. Death now scares me. I’ve wandered so long... I can’t stop pacing and crying.

Urshanabi:
Definitely broken. Hell is definitely a part of you. Your face is pinched and your eyes do not look right... jumping about like a mad man!

Gilgamesh: (grabbing Urshanabi by the clothes)

I am mad. I bleed from weeping. My breath burns with agony. I seek my way to Utnapishtim who lives free, beyond the grasp of death’s deep lake. Now, tell me how to get there so I may learn his secrets and I will bother you no more.

Urshanabi:

All right then. If you seek Utnapishtim, you must activate the portal that carries my ship over the ocean. Just retrace your steps through the jungle until you reach the valley. There you will find a large ring of stones. The instructions are on the stone. Go now and we will be transported to the other side. (Gilgamesh sets him down. Straightening himself...)

Perhaps you saw the stones on your way here. Oh, wait! That’s right. On your rampage through the jungle your axe felled each one of them. (he points) Without the Anunnaki' portal, there is no safe passage. Your blasphemy has undone your purpose. 

Gilgamesh: 

My purpose hasn’t even begun. I am no fool, boat-man. You will take me across in your boat!

Urshanabi:

(aside) Ah... what to do with the living?  

I am the "Ferry-man" if you must.  My vessel travels over the ocean, not in it. Without that portal, you are lost. 

Giglamesh:
Enkidu! (Gilgamesh falls to his knees unable to cry)

Fine. Pick up your ax, broken king. Cut a thousand poles and bind them together to build a boat. And then cut a hundred extra poles to push you across. Be forewarned, do not let the water touch your hands. You can never use the same pole twice. 

Gilgamesh sets sail in a reed boat with nothing but the clothes on his back and his war ax on his belt. Each pole he presses into the water becomes lodged in a mire of hands and spray. With all his superhuman strength he gives the poles, one after the other, a mighty shove before they are swallowed into the water. He skims across the waves of reaching hands, slapping against the hull, fingers grasping at the reeds. Ninety nine, one hundred... with one mighty push he sails toward the shore. Slowing in the greedy tide, Gilgamesh stands and opens his arms, his robes becoming a sail in the wind.