When Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise, they were compelled to
build a house for themselves on unfruitful ground, and eat their bread
in the sweat of their brow. Adam dug up the land, and Eve span. Every
year Eve brought a child into the world; but the children were unlike
each other, some pretty, and some ugly. After a considerable time had
gone by, God sent an angel to them, to announce that he was coming to
inspect their household. Eve, delighted that the Lord should be so
gracious, cleaned her house diligently, decked it with flowers, and
strewed reeds on the floor. Then she brought in her children, but only
the beautiful ones. She washed and bathed them, combed their hair, put
clean raiment on them, and cautioned them to conduct themselves
decorously and modestly in the presence of the Lord. They were to bow
down before him civilly, hold out their hands, and to answer his
questions modestly and sensibly. The ugly children were, however, not
to let themselves be seen. One hid himself beneath the hay, another
under the roof, a third in the straw, the fourth in the stove, the
fifth in the cellar, the sixth under a tub, the seventh beneath the
wine-cask, the eighth under an old fur cloak, the ninth and tenth
beneath the cloth out of which she always made their clothes, and the
eleventh and twelfth under the leather out of which she cut their
shoes. She had scarcely got ready, before there was a knock at the
house-door. Adam looked through a chink, and saw that it was the Lord.
Adam opened the door respectfully, and the Heavenly Father entered.
There, in a row, stood the pretty children, and bowed before him, held
out their hands, and knelt down. The Lord, however, began to bless
them, laid his hands on the first, and said, “Thou shalt be a powerful
king;” and to the second, “Thou a prince,” to the third, “Thou a
count,” to the fourth, “Thou a knight,” to the fifth, “Thou a
nobleman,” to the sixth, “Thou a burgher,” to the seventh, “Thou a
merchant,” to the eighth, “Thou a learned man.” He bestowed upon them
also all his richest blessings. When Eve saw that the Lord was so mild
and gracious, she thought, “I will bring hither my ill-favoured
children also, it may be that he will bestow his blessing on them
likewise.” So she ran and brought them out of the hay, the straw, the
stove, and wherever else she had concealed them. Then came the whole
coarse, dirty, shabby, sooty band. The Lord smiled, looked at them all,
and said, “I will bless these also.” He laid his hands on the first,
and said to him, “Thou shalt be a peasant,” to the second, “Thou a
fisherman,” to the third, “Thou a smith,” to the fourth, “Thou a
tanner,” to the fifth, “Thou a weaver,” to the sixth, “Thou a
shoemaker,” to the seventh, “Thou a tailor,” to the eighth, “Thou a
potter,” to the ninth, “Thou a waggoner,” to the tenth, “Thou a
sailor,” to the eleventh, “Thou an errand-boy,” to the twelfth, “Thou a
scullion all the days of thy life.”
When Eve had heard all this she said, “Lord, how unequally thou
dividest thy gifts! After all they are all of them my children, whom I
have brought into the world, thy favours should be given to all alike.”
But God answered, “Eve, thou dost not understand. It is right and
necessary that the entire world should be supplied from thy children;
if they were all princes and lords, who would grow corn, thresh it,
grind and bake it? Who would be blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters,
masons, labourers, tailors and seamstresses? Each shall have his own
place, so that one shall support the other, and all shall be fed like
the limbs of one body.” Then Eve answered, “Ah, Lord, forgive me, I was
too quick in speaking to thee. Have thy divine will with my children.”