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139 again saw a mountain topple; "it laid me low, trapped my feet." There was an overpowering glare and a man appeared; "the fairest in the land was he. From under the toppled ground he pulled me out; he gave me water to drink, my heart quieted; on the ground he set my feet." Again Enkidu reassured Gilgamesh. The "mountain" that toppled was the slain Huwawa, he explained. "Your dream is favorable!" he said to Gilgamesh, urging him to go back to sleep. As they both fell asleep, the tranquility of the night was shattered by a thunderous noise and a blinding light, and Gilgamesh was not sure whether he was dreaming or seeing a true vision. This is how the text quotes Gilgamesh: The vision that I saw was wholly awesome! The heavens shrieked, the earth boomed! Though daylight was dawning, darkness came. Lightning flashed, a flame shot up. The clouds swelled, it rained death! Then the glow vanished; the fire went out. And all that had fallen was turned to ashes. Did Gilgamesh realize, right then and there, that he had witnessed the launching of a Shem, a skyrocket—the shaking of the ground as the engines ignited and roared, the clouds of smoke and "raining death," darkening the dawn sky; the brilliance of the engine's flames seen through the thick cloud, as the skyrocket rose up; and then the vanishing glow, and the burnt ashes falling back to Earth as the only final evidence of the rocket's launch. Did Gilgamesh realize that he had indeed arrived at the "Landing Place," where he could find the Shem that would make him immortal? Apparently he did, for in spite of cautionary words by Enkidu, he was certain that it was all a good omen, a signal from Shamash that he ought to press on. But before the Cedar Forest could be penetrated and the Landing Place be reached, the terrifying guardian, Huwawa, had to be overcome. Enkidu knew where a gate was, and in the morning the comrades made their way toward it, careful to avoid "Wweapon-trees that kill." Reaching the gate, Enkidu In Search of Immortality