Twelve Leagues

“When he had gone seven leagues the darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him.  When he had gone eight leagues Gilgamesh gave a great cry, for the darkness was thick and he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him.  After nine leagues he felt the north wind on his face, but the darkness was thick and there was no light, he could see nothing ahead and nothing behind him.  After ten leagues the end was near.  After eleven leagues the dawn light appeared.  At the end of twelve leagues the sun streamed out….  Shamash saw him, and he saw that he was dressed in the skins of animals and ate their flesh.  He was distressed, and he…  said, ‘No mortal man has gone this way before, nor will, as long as the winds drive over the sea.’  And to Gilgamesh he said, ‘You will never find the life for which you are searching.’  Gilgamesh said to glorious Shamash, ‘Now that I have toiled and strayed so far in the wilderness, am I to sleep, and let the earth cover my head for ever?  Let my eyes see the sun until they are dazzled with looking.  Although I am no better than a dead man, still let me see the light of the sun!'”

The Epic of Gilgamesh (t. N.K. Sandar), as quoted in The Universal Myths:  Heroes, Gods, Tricksters and Others, Alexander Eliot