Showing posts with label Adam and Eve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adam and Eve. Show all posts

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Adam and Eve

And Adam looked through a crack and said that it was God.

Nr. 180 Die ungleichen Kinder Evas
No. 180 Eve’s unequal children

When Adam and Eve were driven out of paradise, they had to build a house on unfertile ground and eat their bread with the sweat still clinging to their brows. Adam tended the field and Eve spun wool. Eve bore a child every year, but the children were not equal. Some were beautiful, others ugly. After some time had passed, God sent an angel to the couple and let them know that He was coming and wanted to look in on their household. Eve, who was happy that God was so gracious, busily cleaned her house, decorated it with flowers and spread rushes on the clay floor. Then she fetched the children, but only the pretty ones. She washed and bathed them, combed their hair, dressed them in freshly washed clothes and warned them to act properly and behave modestly in the presence of God. They should bow politely before Him, offer their hand and answer His questions simply and understandably. But the ugly children were not to show themselves. One hid behind the hay, the other under the roof, the third in the straw, the fourth in the oven, the fifth in the cellar, the sixth under a sled runner, the seventh under a wine barrel, the eighth under an old fur, the ninth and tenth under the cloth, from which Eve made clothes for her children and the eleventh and twelfth under the leather, from which she made their shoes. Everything was just finished when there was a knock at the door. Adam looked through a crack and said that it was God. Respectfully he opened the door and the Heavenly Father entered. There stood the beautiful children in a row, bowed, offered Him their hands and knelt down. And God began blessing them. He placed His hands on the first child and said, “You will become a mighty king”. To the second “You will become a prince,” to the third “You will become a count,” to the fourth “You will become a knight,” to the fifth “You will become a nobleman,” to the sixth “You will become a buerger,” to the seventh “You will become a merchant,” to the eighth “You will become a scholar.” He bestowed all his rich blessings. When Eve saw that God was so mild and gracious, she thought “I also want to bring my plain children. Maybe God will also give his blessing.” She ran and fetched them from the hay, straw, oven and wherever they were hidden. The entire flock came, rough, dirty, grimy and sooty. God laughed and looked at them all and said “I want to bless them, too.” He placed his hands on the first child and said “You shall become a farmer,” to the second “You shall become a fisher,” to the third “You shall become a blacksmith,” to the fourth “You shall become a tanner,” to the fifth “You shall become a weaver,” to the sixth “You shall become a shoemaker,” to the seventh “You shall become a tailor,” to the eighth “You shall become a potter,” to the ninth “You shall become a wagon driver,” to the ninth “You shall become a shipman,” to the eleventh “You shall become a messenger,” to the twelfth “You shall become a servant your life long.” When Eve heard this she said “God, why do you divide your blessings so unequally? These are all my children, and I have borne each and every one of them: your grace should touch them all equally.” But God said “Eve, you don’t understand. It is right and distresses me that I see the entire world filled with your children: if they were all princes and nobles, who would plant, thresh, grind and bake the corn? Who would forge, weave, work the wood, build, dig, sew and mow? Each should have his trade, so that the one sustains the other and all are nourished, like the limbs on a body.” Eve responded “Oh God, forgive me, I was too rash when I went on. Your will be done also with my children.”


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