![]() The full-color illustrations, however, capture that ancient aura wonderfully well. ![]() Unfortunately, the telling lacks the feel of the ancient poetry the cadences of oral tradition with its repetition and vivid description needn't have been sacrificed. Though padding the Shamhat role seems more than a little anachronistic, the dramatic choices usually work well, setting up the rivalry/friendship that propels the rest of the epic (to be continued in two future volumes). Granted, there are several versions of the story, but the reteller does not note that this is a rather free adaptation of the "standard" text. There are alterations (e.g., Shamhat is no longer a courtesan who seduces Enkidu, but a city favorite who falls in love with him, Gilgamesh no longer subdues Enkidu but falls off a wall and is saved by him) as well as additions and deletions. He returns with her to the city, where he fights Gilgamesh and the two men become best friends. Gilgamesh sends a temple woman, Shamhat, to lure Enkidu from the wilderness. ![]() ![]() The people cry to the gods for relief, which comes in the form of a wild man named Enkidu. ![]() The god-king Gilgamesh rules oppressively over the city of Uruk. Grade 3-6- This picture book account of the first part of the ancient epic retains the main characters and events of the story that is Mesopotamia's claim to literary fame. ![]()
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