doings:--“There are some who do not regard spectres as simple devils,
but suppose them to be of a mixed nature, part demoniacal, part human,
and to have had their origin from Lilith, Adam’s first wife, by Eblis,
the prince of the devils. This fable has been transmitted to the
Arabs from Jewish sources, by some converts of Mahomet from Cabbalism
and Rabbinism, who have transferred all the Jewish fooleries to the
Arabs. They gave to Adam a wife, formed of clay, along with Adam, and
called her Lilith; resting on the Scripture, ‘_male and female created
He them_:’[55] but when this woman, on account of her simultaneous
creation with him, became proud and a vexation to her husband, God
expelled her from Paradise, and then said, ‘_It is not good that
the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him_.’[56]
And this they confirm by the words of Adam when he saw the woman
fashioned from his rib, ‘_This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my
flesh_,’[57] which is as much as to say, Now God has given me a wife
and companion, suitable to me, taken from my bone and flesh, but the
other wife he gave me was not of my bone and flesh, and therefore was
not a suitable companion and wife for me.
“But Lilith, after she was expelled from Paradise, is said to have
married the Devil, by whom she had children, who are called Jins. These
were endued with six qualities, of which they share three with men, and
three with devils. Like men, they generate in their own likeness, eat
food, and die. Like devils, they are winged, and they fly where they
list with great velocity; they are invisible, and they can pass through
solid substances without injuring them. This race of Jins is supposed
to be less noxious to men, and indeed to live in some familiarity and
friendship with them, as in part sharers of their nature. The author of
the history and acts of Alexander of Macedon relates, that in a certain
region of India, on certain hours of the day, the young Jins assume a
human form, and appear openly and play games with the native children
of human parents quite familiarly.”[58]
It must not be supposed that women, as they are now, are at all
comparable to Eve in her pristine beauty; on this point the Talmud
says: “All women in respect of Sarah are like monkeys in respect of
men. But Sarah can no more be compared to Eve than can a monkey be
compared with a man. In like manner it may be said, if any comparison
could be drawn between Eve and Adam, she stood to him in the same
relation of beauty as does a monkey to a man; but if you were to
compare Adam with God, Adam would be the monkey, and God the man.”[59]
Literary ladies may point to the primal mother as the first authoress;
for a Gospel of Eve existed in the times of S. Epiphanius, who mentions
it as being in repute among the Gnostics.[60] And the Mussulmans
attribute to her a volume of Prophecies which were written at her
dictation by the Angel Raphael.[61]
All ladies will be glad to learn that there is a tradition, Manichean,
it is true, and anathematized by S. Clement, which nevertheless
contains a large element of truth; it is to this effect, that Adam,
when made, was like a beast, coarse, rude, and inanimate, but that
from Eve he received his upright position, his polish, and his
spirituality.[62]
IV.
THE FALL OF MAN.
What was the tree of which our first parents were forbidden to eat?
In Midrash, f. 7, the Rabbi Mayer says it was a wheat-tree; the
Rabbi Jehuda, that it was a grape-vine; the Rabbi Aba, that it was a
Paradise-apple; the Rabbi Josse, that it was a fig-tree: therefore
it was that, when driven out of Paradise, they used its leaves for a
covering.
The Persian story, adopted by the Arabs, is that the forbidden fruit
was wheat, and that it grew on a tree whose trunk resembled gold and
its branches silver. Each branch bore five shining ears, and each ear
contained five grains as big as the eggs of an ostrich, as fragrant
as musk, and as sweet as honey. The people of Southern America
suppose it was the banana, whose fibres form the cross, and they say
that thus, in it, Adam discovered the mystery of the Redemption. The
inhabitants of the island of St. Vincent think it was the tobacco
plant. But, according to an Iroquois legend, the great mother of the
human race lost heaven for a pot of bears’ grease.[63] The story is as
follows:--The first men living alone were,
“By the viewless winds,
Blown with resistless violence round about
The pendant world.”
Fearing the extinction of their race, and having learnt that a woman
dwelt somewhere in the heavens, they deputed one of their number to
seek her out. This messenger of mankind was borne to the skies on the
wings of assembled birds; and then watched at the foot of a tree till
the woman came forth to draw water from a neighboring well. On her
approach he addressed her, offered her bears’ fat, and then seduced
her. The Deity perceiving her shame, in his anger thrust her out of
heaven. The tortoise received her on his back; and from the depths of
the sea the fish brought clay, and thus gradually built up an island on
which the universal mother brought forth her first twins.
According to the traditions of the Lamaic faith, the first men lived
to the age of sixty thousand years.[64] They were invisibly nourished,
and were able to raise themselves at will to the heavens. In this
age of the world the transmigration of souls was universal,--all
men were twice born; and in this age it was that the thousand gods
settled themselves in heaven. In an unlucky hour the earth produced a
honey-sweet substance: one of the men lusted after it, tasted and gave
to his companions; the consequence was, that the men lost the power
of rising from off the earth, their size, and their wisdom, and were
obliged to satisfy themselves with food produced by the soil.
The Nepaul account of the beginning of sin is as follows: “Originally,”
says one of the Tantras, “the earth was uninhabited. In those times
the inhabitants of Abhaswara, one of the heavenly mansions, used
frequently to visit the earth, and thence speedily return. It happened
at length that when a few of these beings, who though half male, half
female, through the innocence of their minds had never noticed their
distinction of sex, came as usual to the earth, Adi Buddha suddenly
created in them so violent a longing to eat, that they ate some of the
earth, which had the taste of almonds; and by eating it they lost their
power of flying back to heaven, and so they remained on the earth. They
were now constrained to eat the fruits of the earth for sustenance.”[65]
According to the Cinghalese, the Brahmas inhabited the higher regions
of the air, where they enjoyed perfect happiness. “But it came to pass
that one of them beholding the earth said to himself, What thing is
this? and with one of his fingers having touched the earth, he put it
to the tip of his tongue, and perceived the same to be deliciously
sweet; from that time all the Brahmas ate of the sweet earth for the
space of sixty thousand years. In the mean time, having coveted in
their hearts the enjoyment of this earth, they began to say to one
another, This part is mine and that is thine; and so fixing boundaries
to their respective shares, divided the earth between them. On account
of the Brahmas having been guilty of covetousness, the earth lost
its sweetness, and then brought forth a kind of mushroom,” which the
Brahmas also coveted and divided, and of which they were also deprived;
and thus they proceeded from food to food, till their nature was
changed, and from spirits they became men, imbibed wicked ideas, and
lost their ancient glory.[66]
According to the Chinese, man is part spirit, part animal. The spirit
follows the laws of Heaven, as a disciple his master; the animal,
on the other hand, is the slave of sense. At his origin, man obeyed
the heavens; his first state was one of innocence and happiness; he
knew neither disease nor death; he was by instinct wholly good and
spiritual. But the immoderate desire to be wise, or, according to
Lao-tsee, to eat, was the ruin of mankind.[67]
According to the Persian faith, the father of man had heaven for his
destiny, but he must be humble of heart, pure of thought, of word and
of deed, not invoking the Divs: and such in the beginning were the
thoughts and acts of our first parents.
First they said, “it is Ormuzd (God) who has given the water, the
earth, the trees, and the beasts of the field, and the stars, the moon,
the sun, and all things pure.” But Ahriman (Satan) arose, and rushed
upon their thoughts and said to them, “It is Ahriman who has given
these things to you.” Thus Ahriman deceived them, and to the end will
deceive. To this lie they gave credence and became Darvands, and their
souls were condemned till the great resurrection of the body. During
thirty days they feasted and covered themselves with black garments.
After thirty days they went to the chase; and they found a white goat,
and with their lips they drew off her milk, and drank her milk and
were glad. “We have tasted nothing like to this milk,” said our first
parents, Meschia and Meschiane; “the milk we have drunk was pleasant to
the taste,” but it was an evil thing to their bodies.
“Then the Div, the liar, grown more bold, presented himself a second
time, and brought with him fruit of which they ate; and of a hundred
excellences they before possessed, they now retained not one. And after
thirty days and nights they found a white and fat sheep, and they cut
off its left ear; and they fired a tree, and with their breath raised
the fire to a flame; and they burned part of the branches of that tree,
then of the tree khorma, and afterwards of the myrtle; and they roasted
the sheep, and divided it into three portions: and of the two which
they did not eat, one was carried to heaven by the bird Kehrkas.
“Afterwards they feasted on the flesh of a dog, and they clothed
themselves in its skin. They gave themselves up to the chase, and with
the furs of wild beasts they covered their bodies.
“And Meschia and Meschiane digged a hole in the earth, and they found
iron, and the iron they beat with a stone; and they made for themselves
an axe, and they struck at the roots of a tree, and they felled the
tree and arranged its branches into a hut; and to God they gave no
thanks; and the Divs took heart.
“And Meschia and Meschiane became enemies, and struck and wounded each
other and separated; then from out of the place of darkness the chief
of the Divs was heard to cry aloud: O man, worship the Divs! And the
Div of Hate sat upon his throne. And Meschia approached and drew milk
from the bull, and sprinkled it towards the north, and the Divs became
strong. But during fifty winters, Meschia and Meschiane lived apart;
and after that time they met, and Meschiane bare twins.”[68]
The story told by the Mussulmans is as follows:--
Adam and Eve lived for five hundred years in Paradise before they ate
of the tree and fell; for Eblis was outside, and could not enter the
gates to deceive them.
For five hundred years Eblis sought admission, but the angel Ridhwan
warned him off with his flaming sword.
One day the peacock came through the gates of Paradise. This bird, with
the feathers of emeralds and pearls, was not only the most beautiful
creature God had made, but it had also been endowed with a sweet and
clear voice, wherewith it daily sang the praises of God in the highways
of Eden.
This beautiful bird, thought Eblis, when he saw it, is surely vain, and
will listen to the voice of flattery.
Thereupon he addressed it as a stranger, beyond the hearing of Ridhwan.
“Most beautiful of all birds, do you belong to the denizens of
Paradise?”
“Certainly,” answered the peacock. “And who are you who look from side
to side in fear and trembling?”
“I belong to the Cherubim who praise God night and day, and I have
slipped out of their ranks without being observed, that I might take a
glimpse of the Paradise, God has prepared for the saints. Will you hide
me under your feathers, and show me the garden?”
“How shall I do that which may draw down on me God’s disfavor?” asked
the peacock.
“Magnificent creature! take me with you. I will teach you three words
which will save you from sickness, old age, and death.”
“Must then the dwellers in Paradise die?”
“All, without exception, who know not these three words.”
“Is this the truth?”
“By God the Almighty it is so.”
The peacock believed the oath, for it could not suppose that a creature
would swear a false oath by its Creator. But, as it feared that Ridhwan
would search it on its return through the gates, it hesitated to take
Eblis with it, but promised to send the cunning serpent out, who would
certainly devise a means of introducing Eblis into the garden.
The serpent was formerly queen of all creatures. She had a head like
rubies, and eyes like emeralds. Her height was that of a camel, and
the most beautiful colors adorned her skin, and her hair and face were
those of a beautiful maiden. She was fragrant as musk and amber; her
food was saffron; sweet hymns of praise were uttered by her melodious
tongues; she slept by the waters of the heavenly river Kaulhar; she
had been created a thousand years before man, and was Eve’s favorite
companion.
This beautiful and wise creature, thought the peacock, will desire
more even than myself to possess perpetual youth and health, and will
gladly admit the cherub for the sake of hearing the three words. The
bird was not mistaken; as soon as it had told the story, the serpent
exclaimed: “What! shall I grow old and die? Shall my beautiful face
become wrinkled, my eyes close, and my body dissolve into dust? Never!
rather will I brave Ridhwan’s anger and introduce the cherub.”
The serpent accordingly glided out of the gates of Paradise, and bade
Eblis tell her what he had told the peacock.
“How shall I bring you unobserved into Paradise?” asked the serpent.
“I will make myself so small that I can sit in the nick between your
front teeth,” answered the fallen angel.[69]
“But how then can I answer when Ridhwan addresses me?”
“Fear not. I will whisper holy names, at which Ridhwan will keep
silence.”
The serpent thereupon opened her mouth, Eblis flew in and seated
himself between her teeth, and by so doing poisoned them for all
eternity.
When she had passed Ridhwan in security, the serpent opened her mouth
and asked Eblis to take her with him to the highest heaven, where she
might behold the majesty of God.
Eblis answered that he was not ready to leave yet, but that he desired
to speak to Adam out of her mouth, and to this she consented, fearing
Ridhwan, and greatly desiring to hear and learn the three salutary
words. Having reached Eve’s tent, Eblis uttered a deep sigh--it was the
first that had been heard in Eden, and it was caused by envy.
“Why are you so disquieted, gentle serpent?” asked Eve.
“I am troubled for Adam’s future,” answered the evil spirit, affecting
the voice of the serpent.
“What! have we not all that can be desired in this garden of God?”
“That is true; but the noblest fruit of the garden, the only one
securing to you perfect happiness, is denied to your lips.”
“Have we not abundance of fruit of every color and flavor--only one is
forbidden?”
“And if you knew why that one is forbidden, you would find little
pleasure in tasting the others.”
“Do you know?”
“I do, and for that reason am I so cast down. This fruit alone gives
eternal youth and health, whereas all the others give weakness,
disease, old age and death, which is the cessation of life with all its
joys.”
“Why, dearest serpent, did you never tell me this before? Whence know
you these things?”
“An angel told me this as I lay under the forbidden tree.”
“I must also see him,” said Eve, leaving her tent and going towards the
tree.
At this moment Eblis flew out of the serpent’s mouth, and stood in
human form beneath the tree.
“Who art thou, wondrous being, the like of whom I have not seen
before?” asked Eve.
“I am a man who have become an angel.”
“And how didst thou become an angel?”
“By eating of this fruit,” answered the tempter,--“this fruit which is
denied us through the envy of God. I dared to break His command as I
grew old and feeble, and my eyes waxed dim, my ears dull, and my teeth
fell out, so that I could neither speak plainly nor enjoy my food; my
hands shook, my feet tottered, my head was bent upon my breast, my back
was bowed, and I became so hideous that all the beasts of the garden
fled from me in fear. Then I sighed for death, and hoping to find it
in the fruit of this tree, I ate, and lo! instantly I was young again;
though a thousand years had elapsed since I was made, they had fled
with all their traces, and I enjoy perpetual health and youth and
beauty.”
“Do you speak the truth?” asked Eve.
“I swear by God who made me.”
Eve believed this oath, and broke a branch from the wheat-tree.
Before the Fall, wheat grew to a tree with leaves like emeralds. The
ears were red as rubies and the grains white as snow, sweet as honey,
and fragrant as musk. Eve ate one of the grains and found it more
delicious than any thing she had hitherto tasted, so she gave a second
grain to Adam. Adam resisted at first, according to some authorities
for a whole hour, but an hour in Paradise was eighty years of our
earthly reckoning. But when he saw that Eve remained well and cheerful,
he yielded to her persuasions, and ate of the second grain which Eve
had offered him daily, three times a day, during the hour of eighty
years. Thereupon all Adam’s heaven-given raiment fell from him, his
crown slipped off his head, his rings dropped from his fingers, his
silken garments glided like water from his shoulders, and he and Eve
were naked and unadorned, and their fallen garments reproached them
with the words, “Great is your misfortune; long will be your sorrows;
we were created to adorn those who serve God; farewell till the
resurrection!”
The throne recoiled from them and exclaimed, “Depart from me, ye
disobedient ones!” The horse Meimun, which Adam sought to mount,
plunged and refused to allow him to touch it, saying, “How hast thou
kept God’s covenant?” All the inhabitants of Paradise turned their
backs on the pair, and prayed God to remove the man and the woman from
the midst of them.
God himself addressed Adam with a voice of thunder, saying, “Did
not I forbid thee to touch of this fruit, and caution thee against
the subtlety of thy foe, Eblis?” Adam and Eve tried to fly these
reproaches, but the branches of the tree Talh caught Adam, and Eve
entangled herself in her long hair.
“From the wrath of God there is no escape,” cried a voice from the tree
Talh; “obey the commandment of God.”
“Depart from Paradise,” then spake God, “thou Adam, thy wife, and the
animals which led you into sin. The earth shall be your abode; in the
sweat of thy brow shalt thou find food; the produce of earth shall
cause envy and contention; Eve (Hava) shall be afflicted with a variety
of strange affections, and shall bring forth offspring in pain. The
peacock shall lose its melodious voice, and the serpent its feet; dark
and noisome shall be the den in which the serpent shall dwell, dust
shall be its meat, and its destruction shall be a meritorious work.
Eblis shall be cast into the torments of hell.”
Our parents were then driven out of Paradise, and one leaf alone was
given to each, wherewith to hide their nakedness. Adam was expelled
through the gate of Repentance, that he might know that through it
alone could Paradise be regained; Eve was banished through the gate of
grace; the peacock and the serpent through that of Wrath, and Eblis
through the gate of Damnation. Adam fell into the island Serendib
(Ceylon), Eve at Jedda, the Serpent into the desert of Sahara, the
Peacock into Persia, and Eblis into the river Eila.[70]
Tabari says that when the forbidden wheat had entered the belly of
Adam and Eve, all the skin came off, except from the ends of the
fingers. Now this skin had been pink and horny, so that they had been
invulnerable in Paradise, and they were left naked and with a tender
skin which could easily be lacerated; but as often as Adam and Eve
looked on their fingernails, they remembered what skin they had worn in
Eden.[71]
Tabari also says that four trees pitying the shame of Adam and Eve, the
Peacock, and the Serpent, in being driven naked out of Paradise, bowed
their branches and gave each a leaf.
Certain Rabbis say that Adam ate only on compulsion, that he refused,
but Eve “took of the tree,”--that is, broke a branch and “gave it him,”
with the stick.
According to the Talmudic book, Emek Hammelech (f. 23, col. 3), Eve,
on eating the fruit, felt in herself the poison of Jezer hara, or
Original sin, and resolved that Adam should not be without it also; she
made him eat and then forced the fruit on the animals, that they might
all, without exception, fall under the same condemnation, and become
subject to death. But the bird Chol--that is, the Phœnix--would not be
deceived, but flew away and would not eat. And now the Phœnix, says
the Rabbi Joden after the Rabbi Simeon, lives a thousand years, then
shrivels up till it is the size of an egg, and then from himself he
emerges young and beautiful again.
We have seen what are the Asiatic myths relating to Adam and Eve; let
us now turn to Africa. In Egypt it was related that Osiris lived with
Isis his sister and wife in Nysa, or Paradise, which was situated
in Arabia. This Paradise was an island, surrounded by the stream
Triton, but it was also a steep mountain that could only be reached
on one side. It was adorned with beautiful flowers and trees laden
with pleasant fruits, watered by sweet streams, and in it dwelt the
deathless ones.
There Osiris found the vine, and Isis the wheat, to become the food and
drink of men. There they built a golden temple, and lived in supreme
happiness till the desire came on Osiris to discover the water of
Immortality, in seeking which he left Nysa, and was in the end slain by
Typhon.[72]
The following is a very curious negro tradition, taken down by Dr.
Tutschek from a native in Tumale, near the centre of Africa.
Til (God) made men and bade them live together in peace and happiness,
labor five days, and keep the sixth as a festival. They were forbidden
to hurt the beasts or reptiles. They themselves were deathless, but
the animals suffered death. The frog was accursed by God, because when
He was making the animals it hopped over his foot. Then God ordered
the men to build mountains: they did so, but they soon forgot God’s
commands, killed the beasts and quarrelled with one another. Wherefore
Til (God) sent fire and destroyed them, but saved one of the race,
named Musikdegen, alive. Then Til began to re-create beings. He stood
before a wood and called, Ombo Abnatum Dgu! and there came out a
gazelle and licked His feet. So He said, stand up, Gazelle! and when it
stood up, its beast-form disappeared, and it was a beautiful maiden,
and He called her Mariam. He blessed her, and she bore four children, a
white pair and a black pair. When they were grown up, God ordered them
to marry, the white together and the black together. In Dai, the story
goes that Til cut out both Mariam’s knee-caps, and of each He made a
pair of children. Those which were white He sent north; those which
were black He gave possession of the land where they were born.
God then made the animals subject to death, but the men He made were
immortal. But the new created men became disobedient, as had the first
creatures; and the frog complained to Him of His injustice in having
made the harmless animals subject to death, but guilty man deathless.
“Thou art right,” answered Til, and He cast on the men He had made, old
age, sickness, and death.[73]
The Fantis relate that they are not in the same condition as that in
which they were made, for their first parents had been placed in a
lofty and more suitable country, but God drave them into an inferior
habitation, that they might learn humility. On the Gold Coast the
reason of the Fall is said to have been that the first men were offered
the choice of gold or of wisdom, and they chose the former.[74]
In Ashantee the story is thus told. In the beginning, God created three
white and three black men and women, and gave them the choice between
good and evil. A great calabash was placed on the earth, as also a
sealed paper, and God gave the black men the first choice. They took
the calabash, thinking it contained every thing, and in it were only a
lump of gold, a bar of iron, and some other metals. The white men took
the sealed paper, in which they learned every thing. So God left the
black men in the bush and took the white men to the sea, and He taught
them how to build ships and go into another land. This fall from God
caused the black men to worship the subsidiary Fetishes instead of
Him.[75]
In Greenland “the first man is said to have been Kallak. He came out
of the earth, but his wife issued from his thumb, and from them all
generations of men have sprung. To him many attribute the origin of all
things. The woman brought death into the world, in that she said, Let
us die to make room for our successors.”[76]