They stood at the edge of the Cedar Forest, wondering at the great height of the trees.

Before them they saw a well-marked path, trod bare by Humbaba as he came and went.

Far away they saw the Cedar Mountain, sacred to Ishtar, who is love, where dwelt the gods, its slopes steep, rich in cedars, scented with their sharp fragrance, pleasant with their shade.

Drawing their knives, gripping their axes, they entered the forest, beating down the woven thorn bushes underfoot.

Enkidu was suddenly seized with terror, his face turning pale as a severed head. He said to Gilgamesh, “Dear friend, I cannot continue. I am afraid, frozen in my tracks. You go into the dreadful place, you kill Humbaba and win fame. I will return now to great-girded Uruk. All men will know me for a coward.”

Gilgamesh objected, “Dear friend—brother, I cannot slay Humbaba alone. Remain with me. Stand by my side. ‘Two boats lashed together will never sink. A three-ply rope is not easily snapped.’ If we help each other, fighting side by side, nothing can harm us. Let us attack—slay the monster. We have come too far to permit doubts to intrude—let us forge ahead.”

Enkidu objected, “You have not met him, so don’t know the terror that lurks before us. When I saw him my blood ran cold. His teeth are knife-sharp, protruding like tusks from his terrible maw. His bloodstained face is that of a lion. Like a raging torrent is his charge, his forehead afire. Who can withstand him? I fear—am frozen in my tracks.”

Gilgamesh counseled, “Courage, dear brother, this is no time for fear. We have come too far, over so many mountains, are so near our goal. You were raised in the wild, have killed lions and wolves with your bare hands. You are brave, with a battle-tested heart. Your arms my hang weak, your legs shiver—but you are a warrior! You know what must be done. Shout your battle cry. Let your voice rumble like a drum. Let your pounding heart lift your spirit for the joy of combat—to forget death. For if we fight side by side we will carve our names into the mind of Mankind, we will live forever.”

Humbaba is the ferocious guardian of the Cedar Forest [the sacred wild place], depicted as part lion part dragon, the personification of the natural order put in place by Enlil, Wind Lord, son of the Sky, grandson of the creator gods Ansar and Kisar, father of Sin, grandfather of Ishtar, the god who keeps Man in check, keeps Man from knowing Aruru who governs The Universe, the god who sent forth the Great Flood. Enlil is the god charged with occupying the minds of men with their current plight, so that they might live in fear and wallow in sin, so that they might not pierce the veil of mystery represented by the gods and discover the secrets of The Universe.

Humbaba is also translated in English as Humbaba “the demon” which is both redundant and misleading. Humbaba is the natural world, the personification of the wilderness and beasts with whom the Wild Man Enkidu lives in concord, and fears destroying. Only the civilized chieftain, twice removed from the grip of the natural world, has the audacity to attempt to kill the natural world in his bid to transcend it and achieve an understanding of The Universe. Humbaba might better be likened to the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden then to a demon, though he appears to have no direct parallel in Judeo-Christian literature.

Significantly, although Humbaba has beaten a clear path through the forest, the way is not clear for the heroes, who must beat their own path among the thorns, marking the core of this story as a primal vision quest, in its most ancient form, the return of Man to his near arboreal origins.

Note the use of “torrent” and other flood metaphors throughout the text, indicating an oral tradition rooted in the survival of a great flood.

The Sacred Mountain represents the promise of enlightenment.

Most significant is Enkidu seeing his death as the result of subjugating the natural world. Gilgamesh's transcendent enlightenment is Enkidu's doom.