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I 



tTbc Jfragrant IRote Boo?? 



low trick of Hercules to make Atlas play monkey to his cat 

 by getting the coveted treasures for him, but one must 

 remember that Hercules was not after mere chestnuts but 

 apples and golden ones at that. Without considering the 

 very hard trip he had in finding the land behind the North j 

 Wind where the Hyperboreans Uved and where he dis- 

 covered the apples at last, Hercules must also have gotten 

 very weary holding the earth on his shoulders while Atlas 

 was absent obtaining the precious fruit, so perhaps we may 

 feel that he paid a fair price for what he got, and I do not 

 believe that Minerva half appreciated the gift when they 

 were presented to her. ^ i 



And then there was the Garden of Eden. We are not told 

 in Genesis that the forbidden fruit resembled an apple, but 

 an apple it has always been nevertheless and it is far too late 

 to change it now. You may not believe that form of the 

 story. I may not believe the stories of Al Koran, either, but 

 I must nevertheless consider the fact that my Moslem 

 brothers believe them or I shall never understand a page of 

 Mahommedan history. Ever since European art began, the 

 apple has signified Adam and the temptation in the Garden 

 of Eden, and if it be an error, it lies far out of my path to 

 correct it. Do you know that wonderful engraving by Al- 

 brecht Diirer which he started as a Venus and Adonis and 

 finally finished as Adam and Eve? I hope you know it. It; 

 stands before me as I write; Eve persuasively talking to her 

 spouse, a toad and a cat, a goat and a parrot in the back- 



^l 



*^\i \ii\*3\ 



