XIV 

 THE FIRST MAN 



IN the time before there were any people on 

 earth, a large pea-vine was growing on the beach, 

 and in the pod of this pea the first man lay coiled 

 up for four days. On the fifth day he stretched 

 out his feet and that bursted the pod. He 

 fell to the ground, where he stood up, a full- 

 grown man. 



He had never seen anything that looked like 

 him, and he did not know what to make of him- 

 self. He looked around, and then at himself; 

 then he moved his arms and hands and was sur- 

 prised that he could do it. He moved his neck 

 and his legs, and examined himself curiously. 



Looking back, he saw the pod from which he 

 had fallen still hanging to the vine, with a hole 

 at the lower end out of which he had dropped. 

 He went up and looked in through the hole to 

 see if there were any more like him in the 

 pod. Then he looked about him again, and saw 

 that he was getting farther away from the 



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