268 THE KING'S MIRROR 



in thy body. I declare the covenant sundered between 

 thee and all mankind; thy head and neck shall be 

 crushed under the heel and the tread of men in revenge 

 for the treachery which mankind has suffered through 

 thy slippery cunning. And since thou didst cause man 

 to break the law with his mouth and in eating, the 

 spittle that comes forth from the mouth of a fasting 

 man shall prove as dangerous a venom to thy life, if 

 thou taste it, as thy venom is to man, if he taste it." 



Then God, calling Adam and Eve, asked where they 

 were. And Adam replied: " We hid ourselves, Lord, be- 

 ing ashamed to appear naked before Thy face." In the 

 first word that Adam answered God, he lied to Him; 

 for they knew themselves guilty of violating the law 

 and hid for that reason; but Adam concealed this in the 

 answer that he gave to God. Then God said to him: 

 " Why should you be more ashamed of your nakedness 

 now than when we last talked together, unless it be that 

 you have increased in knowledge from eating the apples 

 that I forbade you ? " But when Adam saw that he 

 could not conceal how they had broken the law, he 

 sought to escape by placing the blame for the act on 

 another rather than on himself, for he answered in these 

 words: " If I had been alone about my affairs and if 

 Thou hadst not given me this woman to advise with 

 me, I should have kept the appointed law and would 

 not have broken Thy commands." These words added 

 greatly to Adam's guilt in God's eyes, for he sought de- 

 fense rather than mercy. But if he had spoken in this 

 wise: "Remember now, O Lord, that I am formed of 

 fragile stuff like a pot of brittle clay, and am in greater 



