Book 2

Book 2-
Gilgamesh and Enkidu, now friends, decide to go kill Humbaba, guardian of the cedar forest. Actually, Gilgamesh is all for this idea, to prove that Humbaba isn't all that scary and powerful and to kill him. However, Enkidu is fearful of this idea. He knows the forest much better than Gilgamesh. The two go to Uruk's wise elders to ask what they should do. The elders decide that to kill Humbaba would be a mighty victory. NInsun "adopts" Enkidu and prays to Shamash (the sun god) to protect the two of them on their journey. The two travel to the cedar forest and enter it. They go to sleep, and Enkidu has frightful dreams that show that only one of them will survive this mission. The next day, Gilgamesh hits a tree with his axe to summon/irritate Humbaba. The two are very scared. Humbaba appears and hits Enkidu to the ground and wounds him. After this, Humbaba falls to the ground, and quickly, Gilgamesh strikes his axe down on Humbaba's neck. Humbaba is dead, but now Enkidu is wounded., The next morning, Ishtar, goddess of love, fruitfulness, and war, visits Gilgamesh and Enkidu. She tries to get Gilgamesh to marry her, but he will not due to the way she has treated her past "lovers." She gets really angry at his refusal and tells her father Anu, god of all gods and god of the sky, that to punish Gilgamesh, they should send the Bull of Heaven (a drought) to starve and thirst men and Gilgamesh. She also thinks the drought will instill new desire in Gilgamesh and all men. Anu sends the Bull of Heaven down to Earth, and it kills three hundred men. Then it goes after Gilgamesh. Enkidu grabs the Bull's tail and twists it until the bull cannot breathe. Then he stabs the bull in the back of its neck. The bull dies, but Enkidu is still suffering from the wound that he received from Humbaba, and he begins to run a fever. The gods decide that either Humbaba or Enkidu must die because they killed first Humbaba and then the Bull of Heaven. Shamash says that Enkidu shouldn't die because he is "innocent," however, Enlil says Enkidu should die because Gilgamesh is two thirds god and is king. They choose Enkidu, who already knows that they will choose him to die. As Enkidu begins to fade away, he talks about his animal friends and blames the prostitute for making him "a man, a man who sees death in things." He asks Gilgamesh why this happens to them; is this what happens to friends?