(This story is a continuation of "The Old Man Becomes Young" from the previous story page)
Gilgamesh had the plant in his hand; all he had to do was return home. But half-way across the desert an oasis lured him to take his rest. As he slept a serpent smelt the magic plant and ate it from his hand.
Gilgamesh awoke to see the serpent slithering away, leaving its old dry skin discarded on the sand.
The plant was gone but the realisation had come, ‘it is not for man to live forever’.
