While tending to Dathon's wounds, Picard keeps him talking and slowly deduces that Darmok and Jalad were two warriors who met on an island called Tanagra and had to cooperate to defeat a dangerous beast dwelling there, becoming friends in the process. Dathon tried to recreate this event between himself and Picard on El-Adrel, hoping that their shared adversity would forge a friendship where words had failed. Picard recounts for Dathon the Epic of Gilgamesh, a human story that parallels the allegory of Darmok and Jalad.