03_Samet_375_375_390 30/10/15 13:05 Pagina 380 380 NILI SAMET 380 Look, Enkidu, two people together will not perish! A boat made out of reed bundles does not sink! No one can cut through a three-ply cord! Water cannot cover a man standing on a wall! Fire in a reed house cannot be extinguished! You help me, and I will help you, what can anyone do against us then? Gilgamesh’s wisdom speech portrays four pictures which ex- emplify the benefits of cooperation. The first two images use a metaphor known to us from the popular literature of many cultures: a single reed is easily broken, while a bundle of reeds, like those used by the Mesopotamians to build boats, is strong enough to en- sure that the boat will not sink 16. A single cord is easily cut, but when three such cords are woven together, no one can cut them 17. The remaining two images, although less obviously understood, probably present a similar message. The idea might be that the height of the city wall, which cannot be flooded, is achieved thanks to the gathering of many small bricks, and that the power of a mighty fire results from the accumulation of many single reeds 18. Be that as it may, the main point, as clearly stated at the beginning and at the end of the speech, is the power of partnership. Kramer noticed the similarity between this passage and a group of proverbs from Qohelet 4,9-12: Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one might prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a three-ply cord is not quickly broken. 16 CIVIL, “Reading Gilgameš II”, 81 n. 15. 17 In light of the revised text, there is no need to assume that the three-ply cord image has anything to do with the boat mentioned above. This is a sep- arate metaphor which conveys the same message as the preceding one; contra A. SHAFFER, “The Mesopotamian Background of Qohelet 4:9-12” (in He- brew), Eretz Israel 8 (1967) 246-250, here 248. 18 CIVIL, “Reading Gilgameš”, 73.