Seymour — The Book of Adam and Eve in Ireland. 127 



seems to be an echo of Eastern lore. A Jewish tradition states that Adam's 

 body was made from Babylon, his head from the land of Israel, and his 

 members from the rest of the earth (Bartoloccius, iii, p. 580). According to the 

 Palestinian Targum on Genesis, God took dust from the House of the Sanctuary 

 and from the four quarters of the world, and mixed the dust with all the 

 waters of the earth (Friedlander, Pirke E. Eliezer, p. 76n.). Moslem tradition 

 has it that dust was taken to make Adam from where is now the Kaaba at 

 Mecca (Tabari, i, p. 72). Adam is called the " human world " in Apocalypse 

 of Ahraham (ed. Box and Landman, p. 70); octopartite nature in Stokes' 

 Three Irish Glosses, p. xl, and dialogue of Solomon and Saturn (Kemble, 

 pp. 179-181) ; from seven consistencies. Secrets of Enoch (Charles, i, p. 448) ; 

 from four elements (Gibson, Book of Rolls, p. 5 ; Hon. Augustodun, col. 1116). 



Eve made nine months later. — According to the L. Breac prose version 

 {God. Pal. Vat., p. 47), this is the reason for the nine months' period of 

 pregnancy. She was made a week after {Jubilees, ed. Charles and Box, p. 47) ; 

 three hours after (Issaverdens, Armenian Uncanoniccd Old Testament, p. 52). 



Canto vii. — Go to Heaven at the age of 30. — In the Tidings of the 

 Resurrection it is said that all men will arise at that age on the last day. A 

 similar belief prevails among the Moslems [Revue Celtique, vol. xxv, p. 239). 



1,000 years and six hours in Paradise. — In view of the statement in 

 Canto XII this is incorrect. But the writer of S has blended two legends, 

 viz., (1) the length of Adam's life, and (2) the length of time spent in 

 Paradise. With regard to (1) it was held by the Jews and the Moham- 

 medans that the span of life originally allotted to Adam was a thousand 

 years ; but that, on learning that his descendant King David would only live 

 thirty years (or three hours) he voluntarily surrendered him seventy years of 

 his own life (Migne, Diet, des Apocr. ii, cols. 53-54; Pirke R. Eliezer, p. 128). 

 With regard to (2) there are numerous traditions. A. Jewish one says six 

 hours (Bartoloccius, i, p. 64), An English metrical version says seven hours 

 (Kemble, p. 128). Tabari (p. 79) goes to the other extreme, and keeps him 

 in Paradise for five hundred years. According to an Irish poem quoted in 

 Cod. Pal. Vat., p. 47, Adam and Eve were in Paradise till an hour beyond 

 mid-day. The poem on Creation in Book of Lecan says fifteen days. 



Canto vni. — Devil and Seipcnt. — The relationship between the two forms 

 the subject of numerous theories. In S the devil gets into the serpent's body. 

 This is the view of the Church Father Theophilus of Antioch {Theophilus 

 to Aittolycics, bk. ii, chap. 28), who says : " The wicked demon, who is also called 

 Satan, spoke to her through the serpent." According to the Moslem legend, 

 Iblis placed himself between the serpent's back teeth, and so entered Paradise 

 (Migne, Diet, des Apocr. ii, cols. 49, 50). Hidden in the serpent (Malan, 



