The sun-god's waning power after midsummer is past suggests
man's growing weakness after the meridian of life has been left
behind. Winter is death, and man longs to escape it. Gilgamesh's
wanderings are used as illustration of this longing, and accordingly
the search for life becomes also the quest for immortality. Can the
precious boon of eternal life be achieved? Popular fancy created
the figure of a favorite of the gods who had escaped a destructive
deluge in which all mankind had perished. [119] Gilgamesh hears of
this favorite and determines to seek him out and learn from him the
secret of eternal life. The deluge story, again a pure nature myth,
symbolical of the rainy season which destroys all life in nature,
is thus attached to the Epic. Gilgamesh after many adventures finds
himself in the presence of the survivor of the Deluge who, although
human, enjoys immortal life among the gods. He asks the survivor
how he came to escape the common fate of mankind, and in reply
Utnapishtim tells the story of the catastrophe that brought about
universal destruction. The moral of the tale is obvious. Only those
singled out by the special favor of the gods can hope to be removed
to the distant "source of the streams" and live forever.
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