THE KING'S MIRROR 



thou didst hearken to thy wife's evil advice rather than 

 to my good counsel 'and hast eaten of the forbidden 

 fruit, the earth, which gave thee all manner of desirable 

 fruit in her motherly kindness, shall be cursed through 

 thy deed. As if in sorrowful wrath, she shall refuse thee 

 such herbs as thou mayest think suitable for food: 

 thistles and weeds shall she give thee for herbs, unless 

 thou till her soil with labor and drench it with thy sweat; 

 for henceforth thou shalt gain thy food upon earth with 

 toil." Thereafter God gave Adam and Eve coats of skin 

 and said to them: "Since you are ashamed of your 

 naked limbs, cover yourselves now with the garments 

 of travail and sorrow and fare forth into the wide fields 

 to find your food with irksome toil. And finally you 

 shall rest in the deathlike embraces of earth and be 

 changed again naturally into the mortal materials from 

 which you were made in the beginning." Then said 

 Adam: " For justice and mercy I thank Thee, O Lord, 

 for I see clearly how greatly I have sinned; likewise do 

 I own Thy grace in that I am not to suffer merciless 

 destruction like Lucifer. Sorrowing shall I descend into 

 the deathlike shadows of hell; yet I shall ever rejoice 

 in the hope of returning; for in this I trust to Thee, O 

 Lord, that Thou wilt show me the light of life even in 

 the darkness of death. And I shall ever look forward to 

 the day when he, who is now rejoicing in my misfortune 

 as in a victory won, shall be afflicted by our returning 

 as one who is overcome and deprived of victory." Then 

 Eve said: " Though we now depart in sorrow, Lord, be- 

 cause of our great misdoing, we shall take joy in Thy 

 merciful lenience in our distress." Then God disappeared 



