After falling asleep together, Gilgamesh wakes up again from another dream. The two companions continue their journey through the forest.Īfter a few days, Gilgamesh makes another offering to Shamash. Enkidu interprets the dream and says that the mountain is Humbaba, and that he and Gilgamesh will topple Humbaba and his dead body will lie like a mountain. Gilgamesh details the dream to Enkidu: They were walking through a valley when a huge mountain fell on top of them. At midnight, Gilgamesh wakes from a dream and asks if Enkidu called out to him.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu construct a shelter against the wind and, huddling together for warmth, lie down, and sleep. He prays that Shamash will visit him in a dream and grant him a favorable omen. That night Gilgamesh makes another offering to Shamash the sun god. The two heroes stand before the forest’s gate, and they see that Humbaba’s footsteps have cut clear paths through the woods, indicating his size and might. Each doubts their ability to defeat Humbaba, and in each case, the other reassures them that they will be victorious.

As they walk, they encourage one another to offset the fear that begins to grow in them. They dig a well and make an offering to the god Shamash, then continue on their journey. In three days, they cover a distance it would take an ordinary man three weeks to cover.

They do not stop to eat until they have walked twenty leagues. The two men, now heavily armed, step outside the seven-bolt gate of Uruk and set off for the Cedar Forest.

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