The
Biblical writer (again the J document) looks upon Noah's drunkenness
as a disgrace. Noah loses his sense of shame and uncovers himself
(Genesis 9, 21), whereas in the Babylonian description Enkidu's jolly
spirit after he has drunk seven jars of wine meets with approval. The
Biblical point of view is that he who drinks wine becomes drunk;
[109] the Babylonian says, if you drink wine you become happy. [110]
If the thesis here set forth of the original character and import
of the episode of Enkidu with the woman is correct, we may again
regard lines 149-153 of the Pennsylvania tablet, in which Gilgamesh
is introduced, as a later addition to bring the two heroes into
association. The episode in its original form ended with the
introduction of Enkidu first to pastoral life, and then to the still
higher city life with regulated forms of social existence.
Now, to be sure, this Enkidu has little in common with the Enkidu
who is described as a powerful warrior, a Hercules, who kills lions,
overcomes the giant Huwawa, and dispatches a great bull, but it is
the nature of folklore everywhere to attach to traditions about
a favorite hero all kinds of tales with which originally he had
nothing to do.
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