Gilgamesh IV (and a few notes regarding meters)

I had put down the follwing fragment a while ago:

bitter complaints 'bout the tyrannical king
who claimed for himself the right of the first night
and tried the young men's strength in the ring
reached the Gods

Today I added "who considered the plight", my good old Penguin Rhyming Dictionary yet again provided the rhyme and thus indirectly also the idea. Often, when I've got stuck, the search for rhyming words brings up new ideas as well. If not, I may have to rewrite single lines or even complete verses. I also added a second part to the verse:

the Gods decided to send him a friend
equal in strength and equal in force
to share adventures, to share ideas
and in the long term alter his course

The rhyming pattern differs (A B A B versus X A X A). I may have to go over that eventually.

The basic meter (rhythm / intonation) of the tune in my mind is:
X - - X - - X - - X
You will observe that it does not always match exactly. Actually, it never matches! This can be fixed by splitting notes like, for example, having two eigth notes instead of one quarter note, by inserting rests, or adding an upbeat note.

The meters of the first part would look like this:

bitter complaints 'bout the tyrannical king
X - - X -- - X - - X (replacing one "normal" note with two short ones)

who claimed for himself the right of the first night
- X - - X - - X - - X (adding an upbeat note)

and tried the young men's strength in the ring
- X - - X _ X - - X (adding an upbeat note as well as a rest)

reached the Gods who considered the pligh
X _ - X - - X - - X (adding a - short - rest)

See also my notes on  syllable counts and intonation