58 lines
3.8 KiB
Text
58 lines
3.8 KiB
Text
Eve’s Various Children
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When Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise, they were compelled to
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build a house for themselves on unfruitful ground, and eat their bread
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in the sweat of their brow. Adam dug up the land, and Eve span. Every
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year Eve brought a child into the world; but the children were unlike
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each other, some pretty, and some ugly. After a considerable time had
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gone by, God sent an angel to them, to announce that he was coming to
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inspect their household. Eve, delighted that the Lord should be so
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gracious, cleaned her house diligently, decked it with flowers, and
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strewed reeds on the floor. Then she brought in her children, but only
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the beautiful ones. She washed and bathed them, combed their hair, put
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clean raiment on them, and cautioned them to conduct themselves
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decorously and modestly in the presence of the Lord. They were to bow
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down before him civilly, hold out their hands, and to answer his
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questions modestly and sensibly. The ugly children were, however, not
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to let themselves be seen. One hid himself beneath the hay, another
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under the roof, a third in the straw, the fourth in the stove, the
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fifth in the cellar, the sixth under a tub, the seventh beneath the
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wine-cask, the eighth under an old fur cloak, the ninth and tenth
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beneath the cloth out of which she always made their clothes, and the
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eleventh and twelfth under the leather out of which she cut their
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shoes. She had scarcely got ready, before there was a knock at the
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house-door. Adam looked through a chink, and saw that it was the Lord.
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Adam opened the door respectfully, and the Heavenly Father entered.
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There, in a row, stood the pretty children, and bowed before him, held
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out their hands, and knelt down. The Lord, however, began to bless
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them, laid his hands on the first, and said, “Thou shalt be a powerful
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king;” and to the second, “Thou a prince,” to the third, “Thou a
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count,” to the fourth, “Thou a knight,” to the fifth, “Thou a
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nobleman,” to the sixth, “Thou a burgher,” to the seventh, “Thou a
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merchant,” to the eighth, “Thou a learned man.” He bestowed upon them
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also all his richest blessings. When Eve saw that the Lord was so mild
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and gracious, she thought, “I will bring hither my ill-favoured
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children also, it may be that he will bestow his blessing on them
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likewise.” So she ran and brought them out of the hay, the straw, the
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stove, and wherever else she had concealed them. Then came the whole
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coarse, dirty, shabby, sooty band. The Lord smiled, looked at them all,
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and said, “I will bless these also.” He laid his hands on the first,
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and said to him, “Thou shalt be a peasant,” to the second, “Thou a
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fisherman,” to the third, “Thou a smith,” to the fourth, “Thou a
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tanner,” to the fifth, “Thou a weaver,” to the sixth, “Thou a
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shoemaker,” to the seventh, “Thou a tailor,” to the eighth, “Thou a
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potter,” to the ninth, “Thou a waggoner,” to the tenth, “Thou a
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sailor,” to the eleventh, “Thou an errand-boy,” to the twelfth, “Thou a
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scullion all the days of thy life.”
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When Eve had heard all this she said, “Lord, how unequally thou
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dividest thy gifts! After all they are all of them my children, whom I
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have brought into the world, thy favours should be given to all alike.”
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But God answered, “Eve, thou dost not understand. It is right and
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necessary that the entire world should be supplied from thy children;
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if they were all princes and lords, who would grow corn, thresh it,
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grind and bake it? Who would be blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters,
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masons, labourers, tailors and seamstresses? Each shall have his own
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place, so that one shall support the other, and all shall be fed like
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the limbs of one body.” Then Eve answered, “Ah, Lord, forgive me, I was
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too quick in speaking to thee. Have thy divine will with my children.”
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