We can now understand why the two heroes are described in the
Pennsylvania tablet as alike, as born in the same place, aye, as
brothers. Gilgamesh in the Epic is merely a reflex of Enkidu. The
latter is the real hero and presumably, therefore, the older
figure. [100] Gilgamesh resembles Enkidu, because he _is_ originally
Enkidu. The "resemblance" _motif_ is merely the manner in which
in the course of the partly popular, partly literary transfer, the
recollection is preserved that Enkidu is the original, and Gilgamesh
the copy.
The artificiality of the process which brings the two heroes together
is apparent in the dreams of Gilgamesh which are interpreted by
his mother as portending the coming of Enkidu. Not the conflict is
foreseen, but the subsequent close association, na?vely described as
due to the personal charm which Enkidu exercises, which will lead
Gilgamesh to fall in love with the one whom he is to meet. The two
will become one, like man and wife.
On the basis of our investigations, we are now in a position to
reconstruct in part the cycle of episodes that once formed part of
an Enkidu Epic. The fight between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, in which
the former is the victor, is typical of the kind of tales told of
Enkidu.
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