THE KING'S MIRROR 253 



more subtle and crafty than any other beast, came in 

 the guise of a maiden * to Eve, Adam's wife, and ad- 

 dressed her in great friendliness: " Blessed is your hus- '; 

 band and you with him, since God has given all things 

 into your power; for it is now the duty of every beast to 

 obey your commands, seeing that Adam is our lord and 

 you are our lady. But now I want to ask you whether 

 God has withheld anything upon earth from your do- 

 minion, or whether you may enjoy all things as you 

 wish without hesitation." Eve replied: " God has given 

 us dominion over all things that he has created upon 

 earth except the tree that stands in the midst of Para- 

 dise; of this He has forbidden us to eat, having said that 

 we shall die, if we eat thereof." The serpent said to Eve: 

 " Oho, my lady ! He does not wish you to become so 

 wise that you know both good and evil; for He knows 

 the difference between good and evil things, while you 

 know good things only. But when you have eaten of the 

 apples of knowledge, you will become like God and will 

 have knowledge of evil things as well as of good." As 

 soon as the serpent had disappeared from Eve's sight, 

 she called Adam her husband and told him all this 

 speech. Then she took two of the apples of knowledge, 

 ate one herself, and gave the other to Adam. But when 

 they had eaten these apples, their knowledge was ex- 

 tended to evil things, as the serpent had said; and they 



* The compiler of Stjdrn, an Old Norse paraphrase of the larger part of the 

 Old Testament, following Petrus Comestor's Historia Scholastica, attributes 

 to Bede the statement that the serpent in those days bore the face of a 

 maiden (p. 34). The author of the King's Mirror cannot have used Stj6rn, as 

 it seems to be a production of the fourteenth century, nor is there any evidence 

 that he knew the Historia Scholastica. 



