The Boatman's Fee

Gilgamesh pleads with Shiduri to help him find a way to cross the sea to the immortal Uta-Napishti. She reluctantly (well, perhaps not so reluctantly, because she’ll be more than happy to rid herself of him) points him towards Ur-Shanabi, Uta-Napishti’s boatman.

He’s the only one besides the sun itself that can cross the great sea of death.

Gilgamesh spies Ur-Shanabi minored not too far along the shore; and his crew are cutting cedars. Gilgamesh, true to form, does the only thing he seems to know how to do when trying to show off his power: he impulsively kills the crew.

A mistake, as it turns out; for of course Ur-Shanabi needs his crew to take Gilgamesh anywhere.

What a freaking idiot, eh? Well, that’s Gilgamesh for you. Always rushing in to inappropriately kill a few poor innocent folk who were basically just minding their own business.

Ur Shanabi, no doubt intimidated by Gilgamesh’s 18-foot stature, not to mention his murderous nature, decides to play it safe and take Gilgamesh across the sea—presuming, of course, he’s willing to complete the work of the crew, who were cutting punting-poles needed for the voyage. It’s another example of the old story: bullies tend to get their way.

The Boatman’s fee

Oh, sweet Shiduri
 Do not deny my plea
I have already wandered long and lonely
In my search for immortality

If you should know the way across the sea
Then spin your silver secrets back to me
Show me the way across the golden waves
To escape the everlasting silence of the grave 

Innkeeper Shiduri
I seek the home of Uta-napishti
What landmarks will I find?
Please be kind and tell me

By will of the gods
I will cross the ocean wide
Instead of wandering 
Dressed in these miserable lion hides.

Shiduri replied, 
“Your friend has died
There never was a way across,
The wind has teeth that tatter sails
And even the most noble   
Cause is lost  
You can’t thread needles on the sea. 
Shamash commands the boatman’s fee—
No one can cross the ocean 
But the sun
  
 Those who cross the ocean,
reach the waters of remorse
  there the hand of death 
will run its icy course—

But Gilgamesh! I hear the voice of Ur-shanabi,
Uta-napishti’s boatman, captain of his ship   
I hear the shipwrights of his crew,
The men of stone, 
Wielding their axes in the cedar forest 

And the eyes of Gilgamesh
Fell on the men of stone   
Like a rain of arrows from the skies
They fell in painful disarray 
Crushed and fallen in the river
And Ur-Shanabi heard their cries
He heard their cries
He heard their cries

Gilgamesh, wild man who butchers bulls
And flays the golden lion’s skin,
What brings you here?
Why do you cry in grief and live your life 
in bloody sin?

I feel a tone of desperation in your deeds
What is it in your soul that makes you bleed? 
Why is your tortured soul so incomplete? 

Music and Lyrics copyright 2025 by Lee van Laer

Instruments, vocals /recording and engineering by Lee van Laer.