The Tree of Knowledge

The Tree of Knowledge

          After the Lord God had finished creating the ground, He formed the man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, for there was no oxygen on the earth because the trees had not yet appeared. So the planet earth became a living being, made in the image of God, and all about her was the womb of the living ground, the tumultuous waters, and the soft light of the sun penetrating through the dense cloud cover.
          Then the Lord God made the trees which at once began to cover the ground in thick lush vegetation, and the new man understood the trees, that they were fruitful, and had their place upon the ground. They were a part of the man, as the very dust, and breath of life was a part of the man. And the Lord God explained to the man that it was not good for the man to be alone, but as yet the man did not understand what the Lord God was saying because he was not alone for the Lord God was with him.
          Then, the Lord God created many animals, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Insects soon clouded the skys. Birds flocked to the trees devouring their fruit. Penguins made their homes on the thick glacial ice. Baby lizards skated across newly formed deserts. The Lord God fashioned the animals from the ground, and from the water, and the man understood the animals, that they were like trees, and had their place upon the earth, to swarm upon the earth, and to animate the earth, and to give life to it. But the animals were not like the man because the Lord God said the animals were not fit for him, and they certainly were not like the Lord God because the man knew the Lord God looked like the man. Animals were a distinct creation. Unlike the trees, the animals produced fruit each according to its own kind, which soon hatched under the heat of the sun producing offspring. Fish, the man came to call fish, and produced much fruit of fish in the waters of the ocean. He called the jelly-fish, jelly-fish; and many fruity jelly-fish wiggled and squiggled in the sea. He called the birds, birds; and they produced many different coloured eggs and laid them in the trees. He gave the name of serpent to the dinosaur; and the turtles and the triceratops laid many eggs and produced much fruit. The insects produced the fruit of insects, and the frogs produced the fruit of frogs, and the platypuses produced the fruit of platyuses. All the animals came together in pairs and each pair produced fruit according to its kind, but for the man, the Lord God said, "there was not found a helper fit for him." This made the man very sad. He knew that he was living and he knew that life was fruitful, but the man was alone in the Lord God's garden and the Lord God said it was not good.
          Of all the trees in the garden that the Lord God had made, the serpents were one of the oldest. Serpents laid leathery eggs and ate greenery. Nothing was forbidden to them and over many eons, the serpents became the natural law of the planet. They learned to eat the fruit of themselves by consuming both eggs and greenery, but they were not intelligent. God had not created for the serpents a future, so they did not understand the results of their activity. The more fruit she ate of her own tree, the less she came to realise that the fruit belonged to herself, and the more she multiplied. It was not long before serpents came to dominate the earth. Some species began to eat indiscriminantlly, any egg from any tree, and soon they developed more than a taste for eggs. After all, serpents were as green as any tree. It was right to hunt greenery, and it was right to eat eggs. The Lord God had said that the serpents could eat the fruit of any tree, and were not animals trees in the same way as trees were trees. Animals produced fruit in the same way that trees produced fruit. It did not matter that animals produced fruit each according to their own kinds.
          The serpents were not breaking the law of the Lord God. The Lord God had given permission to the animals to consume the fruit of any tree in the garden. Serpents began to grow to tremendous sizes, relying on the heat of the sun to bake their eggs and hatch their offspring. The tree of the serpent sunk its roots deep into the earth, drawing upon fresh clean waters to sustain it until it grew old and gnarled and produced fruit of all varieties, from the tiniest Gheco to the giant Brontosauras. Thus, the serpents knew they were alive because they remembered having been created, but they knew they were living because they hunted; and the tree of the serpent was finished.

          Even though the Lord God was still with the man, the man was learning what it was to be alone. The earth was the very nature of the man and the earth produced the trees which produced much fruit. The trees were not alone. And the animals produced much fruit and teamed upon the earth. The waters teamed with life of all sorts, and each living creature produced fruit according to its own kind. Only the man was alone with the Lord God in the garden. Then, the Lord God showed the man that all the trees of the earth were good to eat, but He pointed to a tree that the man had never seen before. This tree was old, and lonely, and stood in the midst of the garden, bearing only one kind of fruit, a kind of yellow fruit which dripped tangy fragrant juices on the ground staining the soil. It was a strange tree, and the man was instantly repulsed by it. The man may eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden, said the Lord God, "But of the tree that is in the midst of the garden you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die."

          One day, when the man was sleeping, the Lord God went missing. When the man woke up, she discovered that life had come from her. The Lord God was missing, but the man was not lonely. Something had come after her. A new life had come from her. The man was now a living creature because she knew that the fruit her tree had produced had come from herself. She was not like the animals because she had her own future; and she had God in her past. The child who came from her side looked exactly like her in every way. Even when the Lord God went missing she was not lonely because the child fulfilled her life. This was the planet's second generation; and the first generation knew the man was not an animal. Now the future of the man was secure.

          As the child had come from the man, the man's experience became her teacher and her expectation. She knew she was alive because she had come from the man and the man was life to her. So the offspring of the man expected herself to be one with life. His past was her future. In her future was life, and that life was a gift of God's.
          Thus the female was expected to multiply in the image in which she was created, and her offspring came from her side, and the Lord God closed up the place with flesh. This was how the man came to be fruitful. Adam was mother to her offspring, and the offspring was son to Adam, and they were male and female, but they did not know they were naked. Then the offspring was instructed by Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge because it was poison. And this was knowledge, said Adam, and he pointed to the only tree in the garden that produced the poison of God's rejection.
          The man came to call her child Eve, and the garden which the Lord God had planted she called Eden. The two spent many hours in the garden learning about the fruit of all the different varieties of trees the Lord had planted. The Lord God planted another tree in the garden which he called the Tree of Life. It was a strong tree like an Elm tree and it produced seven varieties of lucious red fruits which burst into life whenever they hit the ground. The ground under the tree of life smelled of life, and the juices of the fruit were washed into the soil and trickled into the waters and creeks of Eden until the whole garden was fragrant with the sweetness of it. Adam and Eve and all the animals took of the fruit freely. It made them radiant, and plump, and full of energy so that their bodies were renewed and they grew, evermore like the children of God.
          Adam liked to spend her time in the garden planting trees and playing with the small creatures. She taught the animals to make homes for themselves, special places where they could live and grow. She taught some frogs to climb trees, and other frogs to be at home among the lilly-pads. She taught the platypuses to dig a home for themselves in the banks of the river, and she taught the chickadees to build nests for their eggs in the tiny trees that grew under towering giants. She helped the great animals to lay their eggs in sand pits so that the sun could penetrate the sand and the eggs would hatch much more readily.
          Adams favorite friend was a small furry creature she named Opa. Opa taught Adam many things about motherhood because Opa gave birth to offspring which came directly from herself. When it was time for her to give birth, Opa always made certain that Adam was close by. Together they would watch the little ones make their way through Opa's fur until they reached the tiny pouch underneath her ribs. When the little ones had settled on her teats, Opa would gently pull her flap open with her little hands so that Adam could take a peek inside. Adam loved to watch the tiny naked little creatures latched so precariously to Opa's side, taking in great mouthfuls of Opa's milk.
          "I remember when Eve came from my side," Adam was fond of telling Opa. "The Lord God went missing and I felt very lonely."
          "The Lord God didn't go missing, you silly thing," said Opa. "You were sleeping."
          "What is sleeping?" asked Adam.
          "You were laying under the Sicamore tree, and the Lord God touched you and opened up the place under your ribs. That's where Eve came from."
          "But I don't remember giving birth to little ones like you do, Opa." said Adam.
          "Well maybe you didn't give birth like I do, but we all saw the Lord God take Evey from your side," said Opa.
          "I felt very lonely when I was asleep," said Adam.
          "But you are not lonely now, are you Adam," asked Opa. Opa had never felt lonely so she didn't know what Adam was talking about. "I suppose if I go to sleep when I give birth and the Lord God touches me, I will be lonely too."
          "I suppose so, Opa," said Adam. "But then you will find a new companion to take away your loneliness. She will be a perfect friend."
          "Is Eve a perfect friend?" asked Opa, wonderingly.
          "She is perfect in every way," said Adam.
          Evey didn't know she was perfect in every way. She liked to spend her time with Adam in the garden teaching the animals to make homes for themselves, but she also liked to spend time by herself. Eve had never been alone either, and she wasn't very interested in motherhood. So when Adam went to talk with Opa, Eve went wandering all by herself, over the great plains, and through the deep forests. She spent hours and hours in the quieter parts of the garden climbing the towering canopy, and chasing after the small fish that lived in the cool mountain streams. Eve's favorite companions were the serpents. She liked to sit on top of Brontosaurus' head while he waded through the deep swamp waters grazing on water moccasins. She loved to bend the great creature to her will, and Adam could often see them both together striding through the great lakes, a wake of water churning up beneath them as they went. Eve rode on the back of any dinosaur she chose, travelling great distances all around the garden. She didn't seem to mind that the serpents were so cantankerous.
          "I think the serpents are the wisest of creatures," Eve would tell Adam when she came home after one of her jonts through the forest.
          "You better be careful you don't fall off and hit your head on a tree," Adam would yell at her. Adam didn't think the serpents were wise at all. The oldest and meanest of them hardly even remembered they were mothers. They were so busy eating eggs that they stunk of them.
          "Some of them almost never eat of the Tree of Life anymore," Adam complained. "And I think they have almost forgotten the Lord God."
          "Just because you never forget the Lord God doesn't mean that no one else should forget him," Eve said.
          "You don't know what it's like to be lonely," Adam said. "You don't know what it's like to have the Lord God go missing."
          "The Lord God goes missing all the time," Eve said. "You're not lonely now, are you?"
          Eve hated this conversation. She did not understand why Adam wanted her to stay at home all the time. Ever since Eve was created the Lord God had gone missing. He would come at odd times, usually in the heat of the day, to wander through the garden and speak to Adam, but when he left again things would be the same as normal. Eve never felt any loneliness when he left and neither did Adam. She just didn't understand what Adam was talking about. Eve had always had a companion.
          One day Eve found herself wandering through the midst of the garden. Eve did not usually like to wander here. The great trees were very old and blocked out the light of the sun, making it hot and dusty. Eve much preferred the wide open spaces on the perimeter of the garden, and the shallow lakes that lay at the base of the mountains, but Adam was travelling that way today and Eve wanted to be spend some time alone. She picked her way carefully through a large Sicamore forest on the side of a hill and came upon a flock of brightly coloured parrots argueing in the trees. They were putting up quite a fuss, flying and squabbling at each other, flapping their red and yellow wings. Parrots were one of the smartest birds in the forest. They could mimic just about any creature alive, but their keen intelligence only served to make them prone to arguements. Eve stopped to watch them screaming at each other when she saw one of the great dinosaurs crashing through the underbrush. The parrots saw him too, and started screeching in protest.
          "I guess your arguement is not so important after all," said Eve, laughing and turned away from the parrots to watch the great serpent crash through a small Sicamore sapling that had gotten in the way of his great torso.
          Seeing Eve, the dinosaur stopped moving. "Well, little lady," he breathed. "I can see that you are in good form today."
          Eve watched the big dinosaur carefully. His was nearly four times her height and towered over the small sicamore trees. He was one of the strongest dinosaurs, one of the ones with big teeth and small hands that Adam had named Trollion.
          "You're going to let me ride you today. Aren't you Trolly," she said, eyeing him again. The great dinosaur shook his head and stamped the small sapling into the ground. His tail fickered out sending several of the birds into the air. Eve decided she did not want to go for a ride after all. It was always difficult to stay on Trolly's neck. He was one of the swifter dinosaurs with slippery skin. Besides, he had a rather annoying habit of walking into tree limbs.
          "Come on, Trolly," she said, laughing. "We'll walk."
          Eve turned about and pushed through the small sicamores listening for the dinosaur behind her. The parrots all took off with an annoying squack, bursting over the trees and chattering to themselves as they flew up and over the canopy. Eve heard the dinosaur crashing through the underbrush behind her. In a minute, she reached the wide path that led down to the wide rushing stream that coursed through the center of the garden. On either side of this path the great fern trees grew, which at times dropped loose clouds of yellow spores into the air to make all the animals sneeze. Eve stepped out into the path and turned around to watch the dinosaur take long great strides, pausing carefully between each one to move his head from side to side. Dinosaurs had eyes on either side of their heads forcing them to dip their heads from side to side in order to see where they were walking. Eve had to run to keep ahead of him along the path.
          His voice was very quiet and sort of raspy as he came up quite close behind her. Dinosaurs of Trollion's sort usually roared at one another over great distances so it took all of his motor control to get his voice down to a level acceptable for Eve's ears. She felt his sweetly sickening breath along the back of her neck as he reached down with his great head until his head was almost level with hers. "Has the Lord God said that you can eat of any of the trees of the garden," he rasped at her.
          Eve saw straight into his mouth where the long rows of teeth lay like rows of sharp jagged rocks. His breath was coming in short small gasps from the two tiny nostrils of his snout. He was eyeing her with a very serious expression on his face. She turned quickly and placed her hands on her hips. Serpents were so sensitized to loud sounds that small sounds were hard for them. "You may freely eat of any of the fruits of the Lord God's garden, but of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, from that you shall not eat, neither shall you touch it, or lest you die!" She yelled as loud as she could to make certain the great animal heard her.
          The great serpent suddenly stopped in mid stride. Eve nodded, satisfied. She loved to see them cringe whenever she told them they would die. She did not know why it happened, what it was that always make them ask her that question but whenever she came upon one of the great serpents, particularly one of the really great serpents like Trolly, that was the question that they invariably asked.
          Eve continued walking until she reached the stream and picked her way across it to reach the other side. There she sat on a rock and turned to wait for the serpent to catch up.
          The serpent was standing stock still where she had left him. His great head was cocked towards the sky as if he was listening to something. He stood that way for several minutes and then began to cast his great head about looking for her. When he spied her, his whole body froze again until he suddenly made up his mind and lunged towards her his great legs moving like crashing tree trunks down the path, tail streaming out behind him. This type of serpent did not like the water so Eve was not surprised when he stopped hesitantly on the other side of the stream. "Come on," she beckoned to him, calmly waiting for him to make up his mind.
          He came towards her, taking great lumbering leaps to avoid the water as much as possible. Water splashed in all directions. He was a very fast animal. The fastest in the garden. His great tail flickered from side to side as he trod up the embankment towards her rock.
          They were close to the center of the garden. Another grove of sycamores grew on this side of the river up another hill and there in the midst of them was the forbidden tree. Eve looked at the serpent. The great beast had stopped and was breathing quietly through his small nostrils, waiting for her to speak.
          The serpent watched Eve as she gazed at the tree in the center of the garden. Its tangy yellow fruit was fragrant even at this distance. "Has not the Lord God said that you may eat of any of the fruits of the garden?" he asked, quietly.
         One day, several mellenia later, there came out of the heavens, a great comet. Behind it streaked a great tail of ice and it streaked towards earth at a tremendous speed. As it entered the atmosphere great sheets of ice melted from off its surface. Jesus was sitting on top of a hill on a rock. He was wearing a soft black robe that came down to his ankles and there was a group of about twenty young shepherd children gathered about his knees listening to a story he was reading out of a children's Sunday School reader. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue and clear with only a hint of soft white clouds. All about the bottom pasture the sheep were grazing in the soft summer sun. The children were anxious to see what the picture was about in the book. Jesus was holding the book very close on his knee and the children couldn't see it yet. These were very young children. None of them was more than eleven years old. They sat with quiet ears, listening to the very stillness of the story. The wind was so soft they could hear it moving the dry grasses of the hillside. Jesus looked up quietly from his book and said, "Children, I saw satan fall like lightning."
         It was a quiet statement of fact. The children were too young to understand it. They pressed closer together and one of the little girls gathered a fistful of grass to throw at her brother. Jesus smiled and showed them the picture of the book he was reading. It was a picture of a lamb dancing on top of a hill next to a rock.
         Adam stood alone with the Lord God in the midst of the garden knowing both good and evil. He had stripped bark and twigs from a tree to cover his nakedness. He was being studied, closely, by God. It was the cool of the day.
         Trees had lost their fruit and were laying in ruins all about the garden. The earth was so darkened, wastes of dust billowed into the atmosphere. In places the surface was cracked and lava drained into what was left of some oceans. Continents and islands were broken in their places. Adam said, "The woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the fruit and I did eat."
         The Lord God addressed Adam and said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; "and Adam, you shall never eat of the Tree of Life again in this garden." ...You shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, ant to dust you will return."