THE KING'S MIRROR 267 



sin that has just been committed. Adam will have to 

 suffer punishment for his transgression, but he shall 

 still have hope of return and mercy, because he came 

 into My wrath on account of thy wickedness and se- 

 ductive guile. And as thou overcamest Adam's wife 

 while she was yet a virgin, so shall one of her daughters, 

 also a virgin, win a triumph over thee. And just as thou 

 seemest now to have led Adam with all his possessions 

 and kinship as spoils into thy dominion, so shall one of 

 his sons search all thy garners and carry all thy treasures 

 away as spoils; and leading forth Adam and all his faith- 

 ful kinsmen out of thy power in a glorious triumph, he 

 shall appoint him to an honored place among his sons 

 in the kingdom which thou wert fittingly deprived of. 

 And as a green tree bore the fruit through which thou 

 hast now won thy victory, so shall a dry tree bear the 

 fruit through which thy victory shall be brought to 

 naught." Then God spoke to the serpent in which the 

 spirit had concealed himself: " Cursed art thou before 

 all the beasts upon earth; because thou hast received 

 Mine enemy and concealed him from the eyes of Eve 

 to the end that, hidden in thee, he might win a victory 

 over mankind. Therefore shalt thou lose the likeness to 

 a maiden's face which thy countenance has borne and 

 shalt henceforth bear a grim and ugly face hateful to 

 mankind; thou shalt lose the feet that bore thy body 

 upright and henceforth crawl upon breast and belly. 

 Bitter and unclean dust shall be thy food, because thou 

 atest of the apple which thou tookest from the hand of 

 Eve. Thou shalt be a self-chosen vessel of venom and 

 death as evidence that thou didst hide venomous envy 



