In his second dream, an axe symbolized Enkidu for Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh dreamed that an axe lay in the streets of Uruk, attracting a crowd, and that he embraced it with intense affection.
His mother, the goddess Ninsun, explained the image as a sign of a powerful companion who would come to Gilgamesh. That companion was Enkidu, created by the gods to counterbalance Gilgamesh’s destructive behavior as king.
The axe follows an earlier dream image, often translated as a meteor or heavenly object. Some scholars see a progression from a raw object falling from heaven to a crafted tool, echoing Enkidu’s transformation from wild man to civilized companion. Readers sometimes confuse this dream with the later dreams Gilgamesh has during the journey to the Cedar Forest, which Enkidu interprets instead.