The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Hero's Journey

"The Epic of Gilgamesh" narrates the journey of Gilgamesh, a young king of Uruk, whose search for solace from despair and human mortality leads to the threshold of life itself. Gilgamesh is an individual, a person with deep feelings who treats life as an adventure, makes mistakes, battles giants, grieves for the death of a friend, and embarks on a long quest into the unknown in search of a way out of the pain of loss and the meaning of life.

Gilgamesh begins to have strange dreams about Enkidu's arrival. He decides to tell his mother; Ninsun, who is a wise goddess.

• Gilgamesh: " Mother, last night I had a dream. I was full of joy, the young heroes were round me and I walked through the night under the stars of the firmament, and one, a meteor of the stuff of Anu, fell down from heaven. I tried to life it but it proved too heavy. All the people of Uruk came round to see it. The common people jostled and the nobles thronged to kiss its feet; and to me its attraction was like the love of woman. They helped my, I braced my forehead and I raised it with thongs and brought it to you, and you yourself pronounced it my brother."

After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh wept for seven days and seven nights. Seeing Enkidu die had made Gilgamesh very afraid of his own death, therefore, he left Uruk to find Utnapishtim who would help him to immortality.

• Gilgamesh to Shamash: " I am going to that country, O Shamash, I am going; my hands supplicate, so let it be well with my soul and bring me back to the quay of Uruk. Grant, I beseech, your protection, and let the omen be good."

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The return to the city of Uruk with the knowledge and ability to accept mortality. Gilgamesh also has a new outlook towards human life and an appreciation for it.

When Gilgamesh and Urshanabi reach accomplish their journey and reach Uruk, Gilgamesh tells the ferryman, "Urshanabi, climb up on to the wall of Uruk, inspect its foundation terrace, and examine well the brickwork; see it is not of burnt bricks; and did not the seven wise men lay these foundations? One third of the whole is city, one third is garden, and one third is field, with the precinct of the goddess Ishtar. These parts and the precinct are all Uruk."

The Magic Flight

Gilgamesh's sail with Urshanabi (goes hand-in-hand with The Ultimate Boon)

(Davis, et al 90)

When Utnapishtim asked Urshanabi to take Gilgamesh back to Uruk:

• Before they leave, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about the immortality plant, but unfortunately Gilgamesh looses it.

Refusal of the Return

Gilgamesh's continued mourning and lack of desire to return to life as ordinary

Ultimate Boon

Although he loses it, Gilgamesh obtains the plant of immortality

• This stage of A Hero's Journey plays hand-in-hand through-out the entire plot. Gilgamesh went on his journey because he never did want to go back to being normal. He had seen something unusual (Enkidu's death), that he was afraid of going through the same. He proves his refusal when he begs Utnapishtim to tell him the secret of how to attain immortality. Even after he fails to impress Utnapishtim, he begs Utnapishtim to show him any other way that can help him attain immortality.
• Another point that can prove Gilgamesh's return: When he left in search of Utnapishtim, he left Uruk without taking anything. He took none of his possessions except an axe. He was rich, but left everything because of his fear.
• As we see throught-out the entire plot, Gilgamesh tried his best to keep everything in his favor, but despite of going through so much, he returned empty handed.

Urshanabi is then ordered to take Gilgamesh back to his city.

• Before Gilgamesh leaves, Utnapishtim tells him, "Gilgamesh, you came here a man wearied out, you have worn yourself out; what shall I give you to carry you back to your own country? Gilgamesh, I shall reveal a secret thing, it is a mystery of the gods that I am telling you. There is a plant that grows under the water, it has a prickle like a thorn, like a rose; it will wound your hands, but if you succeed in taking it, then your hands will hold that which restores his youth to a man."
• Gilgamesh dives right into the water and finds the plant. He carried to the shore from the sea waters.
• Gilgamesh said to Urshanabi, "Come here, and see this marvellous plant. By its virtue a man may win back all his former strength. I will take it to Uruk of the strong walls; there I will give it to the old men to eat. Its name shall be 'The Old Men Are Young Again'; and at last I shall eat it myself and have back all my lost youth."
• When Gilgamesh and the ferryman had stopped to rest, a serpent came and snatched the plant away from Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is extremely sad and cries out to the ferryman, "O Urshanabi, was it for this that I toiled with my hands, is it for this I have wrung out my heart's blood? For myself I have gained nothing; not I, but the beast of the earth has joy of it now. Already the stream has carried it twenty leagues back to the channels where I found it. I found a sign and now I have lost it. Let us leave the boat on the bank and go."

(Davis, et al 89, 90)

Atonement with the Father

The Meeting with the Goddess

The Story of The Flood

Gilgamesh is taken in by a woman known as Siduri, who tries to get him to stay with her and give up his journey

Utnapishtim appears as a father figure for Gilgamesh, telling him about death and immortality

After Gilgamesh crosses the sea with Urshanabi, he finally completes his mission of meeting Utnapishtim

Utnapishtim used to be the king of Shuruppak, which was a beautiful city on the banks of the Euphrates River. Then once the gods met in a secret council. Anu, god of firmament; Ninurta, god of war and wells, Enlil, god of wind, earth, and air, Ennugi, the god of irrigation; and Ea, the cleverest of all gods, the god of wisdom and crafts were present at this secret council. Enlil ordered a flood to destroy the entire humankind. Ea betrayed the gods and told Utnapishtim of the plane. Ea told Utnapishtim to build a boat of immense dimensions and load it with a seed of each living thing and with his family and possessions. The entire boat was built in seven days. Utnapishtim lied to all the people of Shuruppak, and left them all to die. When the floods finally came, Utnapishtim asked Enlil to save everyone. He told Enlil to kill them a few at a time, but not all at once. Because of his kindness towards the other mankind, he was blessed with immortality.

Siduri, a divine winemaker lives at the sea shore. She see's a man walking towards her, who looks very battered. He looks like he just returned from a very long journey. He was dressed in animal skin and looked very tired. As Siduri see's him getting closer, she locks herself behind her gates.

• Gilgamesh:"Young woman, maker of wine, why do you bolt your door; what did you see that made you bar your gate? I will break in your door and burst in your gate, for I am Gilgamesh who seized and killed the Bull of Heaven, I killed the watchman of thecedar forest, I overthrew Humbaba who lived in the forest, and I killed the lions in the passes of the mountains."
• Siduri:"If you are that Gilgamesh who seized and killed the Bull of Heaven, who killed the watchman of the cedar forest, who overthrew Humbaba that lived in the forest, and killed the lions in the passes of the mountain, why are your cheeks so starved and why is your face so drawn? Why is despair in your heart and your face like the face of one who has made a long journey? Yes, why is your face burned from heat and cold, and why do you come here wandering over the pastures in search of the wind?"
• Gilgamesh:"And why should not my cheeks be starved and my face drawn? Why should I not wander over the pastures in search of the wind? My friend, my younger brother, he who hunted the wild ass of the wilderness and the panther of the plains, my friend, my younger brother who seized and killed the Bull of Heaven and overthrew Humbaba in the cedar forest, my friend who was very dear to me and who endured dangers beside me, Enkidu my brother, whom I loved, the end of mortality has overtaken him. I wept for him seven days and nights till the worm fastened on him. Because of my brother I am afraid of death, because of my brother I stray through the wilderness and cannot rest. But now, young woman, maker of wine, since I have seen your face do not let me see the face of death which I dread so much."
• Siduri:"Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day; dance and be merry, feast, and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man."
• Gilgamesh tells Siduri that he is no longer interested in these eartly pleasures. He does not want to get distracted from his mission. He only wants to see Utnapishtim, therefore, he wants Siduri to tell him the directions.
• Siduri:"Gilgamesh, there is no crossing the Ocean; whoever has come, since the days of old, has not been able to pass that sea. The place and the passage are difficult, and the waters of death are deep which flow between. When you come to the waters of death what will you do? But Gilgamesh, down in the woods you will find Urshanabi, the ferryman of Utnapishtim; with him are the holy things, the things of stone. He is fashioning the serpent prow of the boat. Look at him well, and if it is possible, perhaps you will cross the waters with him; but if it is not possible, then you must go back."
• Gilgamesh then leaves Siduri,finds Urshanabi and continues his journey to meeting Utnapishtim.

• Upon seeing Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim:"What is your name, you who come here wearing the skins of beasts, with your cheeks starved and your face drawn? Where are you hurrying to now? For what reason have you made this great journey, crossing the seas whose passage is difficult? Tell me the reason for your coming."
• Gilgamesh:"Gilgamesh is my name. I am from Uruk, from the house of Anu."
• Then Utnapishtim asked Gilgamesh why he travelled this long of a journey, and Gilgamesh's reply the same that he had told Siduri. He told Utnapishtim that he had lost his companion, friend, and younger brother, Enkidu. He was afraid of death and therefore wanted to seek immortality from Utnapishtim.
• Gilgamesh:"Oh, father Utnapishtim, you who have entered the assembly of the gods, I wish to question you concerning the living and the dead how shall I find the life for which I am searching?"
• Gilgamesh goes on to asking Utnapishtim, "Tell me truly, how was it that you came to enter the company of gods and to possess everlasting life?"
• Utnapishtim: "I will reveal to you a mystery, I will tell you a secret of the gods."

Gilgamesh's Test

(Davis, et al 81)

(Davis, et al 84, 85)

After completing his story, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh, "As for you, Gilgamesh, who will assemble the gods for your sake, so that you may find that life for which you are searching? But if you wish, come and put it to the test: only prevail against sleep for six days and seven nights."

• Gilgamesh agrees, but as soon as he sits to rest, he falls into deep sleep.
• Utnapishtim's wife tells him to wake him up, but Utnapishtim went on to say, "All men are deceivers, even you he will attempt to deceive; therefore bake loaves of bread, each day one loaf, and put it beside his head; and make a mark on the wall to number the days he has slept."
• Utnapishtim's does as she was told. She bakes a loaf of bread everyday and places it beside Gilgamesh
• On the 7th day Utnapishtim wakes Gilgamesh up. Gilgamesh says that he was close to sleeping, but was not completely sleeping.
• Utnapishtim replies, "Count these loaves and learn how many days you slept, for your first is hard, your second like leather, your third is soggy, the crust of your fourth has mould, your fifth is mildewed, your sixth is fresh and your seventh was still over the glowing embers when I touched and woke you."
• Gilgamesh:"What shall I do, O Utnapishtim, where shall I go? Already the thief in the night has hold of my limbs, death inhabits my room; wherever my foot rests, there I find death."

(Davis, et al 88,89)

The Road of Trials

Man-scorpion:"No man born of woman has done what you have asked, no mortal man has gone into the mountain; the length of it is twelve leagues of darkness; in it there is no light, but the heart is oppressed with darkness. From the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun there is no light."

Gilgamesh:"Although I should go in sorrow and in pain, with sighing and with weeping, still I must go. Open the gate of the mountain."

Man-scorpion:"Go, Gilgamesh, I permit you to pass through the mountain of Mashu and through the high ranges; may your feet carry you safely home. The gate of the mountain is open."

Gilgamesh arrives at the mountains and he prays to the moon god, Sin to grant him great vision. He awakens in the middle of the night to find lions around him. He pulls out his axe and slaughters them. He then arrives at Mashu. The mountains here guard the rising and setting sun. They are a twin-peaked mountain. One peak points toward the West, while the other points to the East. The mountains are as high as heaven and go down low to the underworld.

Gilgamesh makes it through the 12 leagues of darkness-first step in his journey to meeting Utnapishtim

• From the 1st League to the 7th League, the air became thicker and thicker and Gilgamesh could not see anything ahead or behind of him.

• Gilgamesh enters the Mashu peaks. It was said that no mortal could ever survive in the darkness

• 9th League- Gilgamesh felt wind on his face, but it was still dark

• When he started the 8th League, he gave out a great cry, as he was tired of waiting to see light.

• 11th League- He saw the dawn light

• 10th League- he kept going thinking that the end was near

• 12th League- The Sun was completely out

Gilgamesh steps into a beautiful garden. It was filled with gods, gems, fruit, and many colors. He also saw the sea at a distance. Gilgamesh walks towards the sea.

(Davis, et al 81)

Gilgamesh leaves Uruk in great despair and grief. He decides to seek out to Utnapishtim, who was granted everlasting life by the gods.

• "How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods."

The Belly of the Whale

Shamash, upon seeing Gilgamesh says, "No mortal man has gone this way before, nor will, as long as the winds drive over the sea." Gilgamesh, then tells Shamash, "Now that I have toiled and strayed so far over 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."

Ishtar:"Come to me Gilgamesh, and be my bridegroom; grant me seed of your body, let me be your bride and you shall be my husband."

As Gilgamesh walks towards Mashu, a Man-scorpion and his wife stop him. The Man-scorpion and his wife are the guards at the entrance of the Mashu peaks. The Man-scorpion tells his wife on seeing Gilgamesh, that only a god can come through these gates. His wife tells him that Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third human.

• Man-scorpion:"Why have you come so great a journey; for what have you travelled so far, crossing the dangerous waters; tell me the reason for coming?"
• Gilgamesh:"For Enkidu; I loved him dearly, together we endured all kinds of hardships; on his account I have come, for the common lot of man has taken him. I have wept for him day and night, I would not give up his body for burial, I thought my friend would come back because of my weeping. Since he went, my life is nothing; that is why I have travelled here in search of Utnapishtim my father; for men say he has entered the assembly of gods, and has found everlasting life. I have a desire to question him concerning the living and the dead."

Ishtar: "Woe to Gilgamesh, for he has scorned me in killing the Bull of Heaven."

Gilgamesh's complete isolation after the death of Enkidu

(Davis, et al 80)

After suffering from illness for twelve days, Enkidu tells Gilgamesh, "My friend, the great goddess cursed me and I must die in shame. I shall not die like a man fallen in battle; I feared to fall, but happy is the man who falls in the battle, for I must die in shame."

Gilgamesh: "If I take you in marriage, what gifts can I give in return? What ointments and clothing for your body? I would gladyly give you bread and all sorts of food fit for a god. I would give you wine to drink fit for a queen. I would pour out barley to stuff your granary; but as for making you my wife-- that I will not. Which one of your lovers did you ever love for ever? What shepherd of yours has pleased you for all time? And if you and I should be lovers, should I not be served in the same fashion as all these others whom you loved once?

After listening to Ishtar's curse, Enkidu throws a piece of the Bull's thigh in Ishtar's face and says, "If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash th entrails to your side."

(Davis, et al 80)

(Davis, et al 81)

(Davis, et al 74-75)

Enkidu dies and his death shatters Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh cries, "I made you rest on a royal bed, you reclined on a couch at my left hand, the princes of the earth kissed your feet. I will cause all the people of Uruk to weep over you and raise the dirge of the dead. The joyful people will stoop with sorrow; and when you have gone to the earth I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion."

Gilgamesh had wept for seven days and nights after Enkidu's death. He ripped his clothes and his hair. His tears flowed like never before. He then had a statue of Enkidu made in the city of Uruk. Now he thought he had no joy left in life, therefore he sets off in the wilderness to find immortality.

As the bull reaches Uruk, it lands near the river. At its first snort, it cracks open the Earth and one hundred men fall to their death. At the Bull's second snort, two hundred men fall to their death. When the Bull snorts for the third time, Enkidu attacks it. Enkidu puts all his force to fighting this Bull. The Bull even spits on Enkidu, but Enkidu continues to fight the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu calls out to Gilgamesh, " My friend, we boasted that we would leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust in your sword between the nape and the thorns." Finally, Gilgamesh kills the Bull. They cut out the heart and offer it as a sacrifice to Shamash.

(Davis, et al 78, 80)

After Gilgamesh and Enkidu return to Uruk after defeating Humbaba in battle, Gilgamesh cleans up and looks splendid. Look at his looks, Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, is overcome with lust.

Ishtar is outrage because of the rejection. She goes to her parents, Anu and Antum in heaven. She now wants to destroy Gilgamesh. She tells her father, " My father, give me the Bull of Heaven, to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogace to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of dead will outnumber the living."

Enkidu then goes on to curse the harlot. "As for you, woman, with a great curse I curse you! I will promise you a destiny to all eternity. My curse shall come on you soon and sudden. You will be without a roof for your commerce, for you shall not keep house with other girls in the tavern, but do your business in places fouled by the vomit of the drunkard. Your hire will be potter's earth, your thievings will be flung into the hovel, you will sit at the cross-roads in the dust of the potter's quarter, you will make your bed on the dunghill at night, and by day take your stand in the wall's shadow. Brambles and thorns will tear your feet, the drunk and the dry will strike your cheek and your mouth will ache. Let you be stripped of your purple dyes, for I too once in the wilderness with my wife had all the treasure I wished."

(Davis, et al 75)

Shamash: "Enkidu, why are you cursing the woman, the mistress who taught you to eat bread fit for gods and drink wine of kings? She who put upon you a magnificent garment, did she not give you glorious Gilgamesh for your companion, and has not Gilgamesh, your own brother, made you rest on a royal bed and recline on a couch at his left hand? He has made the princes of the earth kiss your feet, and now all the people of Uruk lament and wail over you. When you are dead he will let his hair grow long for your sake, he will wear a lion's pelt and wander through the desert."

(Davis, et al 75)

Enkidu then takes his curse back and turns it into a blessing for the harlot.

(Davis, et al 78)

When Enkidu falls ill he goes to curse the cedar gate: "You there, wood of the gate, dull adn insensible, witless, I searched for you over twenty leagues until I saw the towering cedar. There is no wood like you in our land. If I had known that this was all the good that would come of it, I would have raised the axe and split you into little pieces and set up here a gate of wattle instead."

Enkidu:"O my brother, so dear as you are to me, brother, yet they will take me from you. I must sit down on the threshold of the dead and never again will I see my dear brother with my eyes."

Enkidu awakens the next morning and cries to Gilgamesh, "O my brother, such a dream I had last night. Anu, Enlil, Ea, and heavenly Shamash took counsel together, and Anu said to Enlil, 'Because they have killed the Bull of Heaven, and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the Cedar Mountain one of the two must die.' Then glorious Shamash answered the hero Enlil, 'It was by your command they killed the Bull of Heaven, and killed Humbaba, and must Enkidu die although innocent? Enlil flung round in rage at glorious Shamash, 'You dare to say this, you who went about with them every day like one of themselves!"

Enkidu then cries out to Shamash,"Sun God, I beseech you, about that vile Trapper, that Trapper of nothing because of whom I was to catch less than my comrade; let him catch least, make his game scarce, make him feeble, taking the smaller of every share, let his quarry escape from his nets." He also goes on to cursing the harlot. "

(Davis, et al 76,77)

(Davis, et al 76)

"My friend, I saw a third dream and this dream was altogether frightful. The heavens roared and the earth roared again, daylight failed, lighting flashed, fire blazed out, the clouds lowered, they rained down death. Then the brightness departed, the fire went out, and all was turned to ashes fallen about us. Let us go down from the mountain and talk this over, and consider what we should do."

The Crossing of the Threshold

After Gilgamesh narrates this dream to Enkidu, they come down from the mountain and cut a cedar tree. Humbaba, hearing the noise is outraged. As Gilgamesh and Enkidu are about to move forward to battle with Humbaba, Gilgamesh falls asleep. Sleep is his weakness, that takes complete control over him whenever it comes.

The encounters with Gilgamesh and Enkidu before their battle with Humbaba

• Gilgamesh's 3 dreams

(Davis, et al 71)

"Enkidu, what was it that woke me if you did not? My friend, I have dreamed a dream. Get up, look at the mountain precipice. The sleep that the gods sent me is broken. Ah, my friend, what a dream I have had! Terror and confusion; I seized hold of a wild bull in the wilderness. It bellowed and beat up the dust till the whole sky was dark, my arm was seized and my tongue bitten. I fell back on my knee; then someone refreshed me with water from his water skin."

• After leaving the city of Uruk, Gilgamesh and Enkidu go down into the forest. They both stood there in awe before the vast forest gates. They were both dumb struck by the height of the cedar trees. Both were breathing in the incense from the trees. They also saw "the mountain of cedars, the dwelling-place of the gods and the throne of Ishtar."

(Davis, et al 71)

Enkidu: "Dear friend, the god to whom we travelling is no wild bull, though his form is mysterious. That wild bull which you saw is Shamash the Protector; in our moment of peril he will take our hands. The one who gave water from his water-skin, that is your own god who cares for your good name, your Lugulbanda. United with him, together we will accomplish a work the fame of which will never die."

• Gilgamesh, then dug a well before the setting sun. He offered some flour to Shamash and prayed, "O mountain, dwelling of the gods, bring me a favorable dream."

(Davis, et al 70-71)

" I dreamed againd. We stood in a deep gorge of the mountain, and beside it we two were like the smallest of swamp flies, and suddenly the mountain fell, it struck me and caught my feet from under me. Then came an intolerable light blazing out, and in it was one whose grace and whose beauty were greater than the beauty of this world. He pulled me out from under the mountain, he gave me water to drink and my heart was comforted, and he set my feet on the ground."

(Davis, et al 71)

Gilgamesh: " Ninsun, will you listen to me; I have a long journey to go, to the Land of Humbaba, I must travel an unknown road and fight a strange battle. From the day I go until I return, till I reach the cedar forest and destroy the evil which Shamash abhors, pray for me to Shamash."

Supernatural Aid

Ninsun, Shamash, & Lugulbanda

Enkidu: "Let us go down from the mountain and talk this thing over together. Your dream is good, your is excellent, the mountain which you saw is Humbaba. Now, surely, we will seize and kill him, and throw his body down as the mountain fell on the plain."

Shamash accepted Gilgamesh sacrifice of tears... shows him mercy

Before heading out on to his journey to fight and murder Humbaba, Gilgamesh seeks the blessings of some supernatural gods and goddesses.

Ninsun: "O Shamash, why did you give this restless heart to Gilgamesh, my son; why did you give it? You have moved him and now he sets out on a long journey to the Land of Humbaba, to travel an unknown road and fight a strange battle. Therefore from the day that he goes till the day he returns, until he reaches the cedar forest, until he kills Humbaba and destroys the evil thing which you, Shamash, abhor, do not forget him; but let the dawn, Aya, your dear bride, remind you always, and when day is done give him to the watchman of the night to keep him from harm."

• Shamash appoints strong allies for Gilgamesh

(Davis, et al 71)

• Enkidu to Gilgamesh: "O my lord, if you will enter that country, go first to the hero Shamash, tell the Sun God, for the land is his. The country where the cedar is cut belongs to Shamash."

(Davis, et al 69)

Davis, et al 68

People of Uruk: " Offer cold water to Shamash and do not forget Lugulbanda."

(Davis, et al 67,68)

Lugalbanda is known as Gilgamesh's father and his guardian god, who would stand beside him for his victory.

(Davis, et al 70)

Gilgamesh is unable to understand his dreams at first, until they are interpreted by his mother. She tells him that his dreams will foretale of failure,

which Gilgamesh is unable to believe, as he has never failed before.

As far as Gilgamesh's first dream was concerned, Ninsun tells him,"This star of heaven which descended like a meteor from the sky; which you tried to lift but found too heavy, when you tried to move it would not budge, and so you brought it to my feet; I made it for you, a goad and spur, and you were drawn as though to a woman. This is the strong comrade, the one who brings help to his friend in his need. He is the strongest of wild creatures, the stuff of Anu; born in the grass-lands and the wild hills reared him; when you see him you will be glad; you will love him as a woman and he will never forsake you. This is the meaning of the dream."

After Gilgamesh shares his concerns with Ninsun about his second dream, his mother answers, "That axe, which you saw, which drew you so powerfully like love of a woman, that is the comrade whom I give you, and he will come in his strength like one of the host of heaven. He is the brave companion who rescues his friend in necessity."

After his dreams were interpreted by his mother, Gilgamesh said to his mother,

"A friend, a counsellor has come to me from Enlil, and now I saw befriend and counsel him."

Refusal of the Call

After Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh heads out another journey of his life

Call of Adventure

(Davis, et al 65)

In simple words: Strange Dreams of Enkidu's Arrival & Enkidu's Death

(Davis, et al 80)

Gilgamesh then has a second dream, which he also doesn't understand and goes to Ninsun for answers.

• Gilgamesh: "Mother, I dreamed a second dream. In the streets of strong-walled Uruk there lay an axe; the shape of it was strange and the people thronged round. I saw it and was glad. I bent down, deeply drawn towards it; I loved it like a woman and wore it at my side."

(Davis, et al 65)

The Epic of Gilgamesh

(Davis, et al 55)