The Bear, the Harlot, the Magician and the King

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the seduction of the wild man Enkidu by Shamhat the harlot symbolically causes his death as an unreflective animal and his rebirth as a human – an Eden-like fall into self-awareness. Created as a match for king Gilgamesh of Uruk, Enkidu goes on to become the king's beloved friend. In European folk traditions, the Wild Man is interchangeable with the bear, and parallels can be drawn between Enkidu and the Candlemas Bear associated with Carnival. Since Enkidu symbolises our pre-human nature, one can perceive a figurative truth to the pan-European folk belief that people are descended from bears. Thematic overlaps exist between some Gilgamesh narratives and European folk-tales about a Wild Man whose father was a bear (the Bear's Son / Jean de l'Ours motif) or about twin boys, one of whom was raised in the wild by a female bear (Valentine and Orson). Perhaps surprisingly, the roots of Santa Claus lie in the Wild Man. So too do the origins of Merlin, the wizard of medieval Arthurian romance. Merlin has elements in common with Enkidu, while King Arthur can be seen as a metaphorical "Bear's son." Over time, the status of the Wild Man has changed from a wholly inhuman monster to a "noble savage" who today might even be cast as a salvific eco-warrior.