Once long, long ago there was a garden: the Garden of Eden. This garden was the most amazing place on planet Earth. God had made the garden after he’d created everything. He put animals of every kind in the dwelling place as well as one man which the Lord formed from dust.

The man’s name was Adam. Adam had black hair and dark brown eyes. He was also tall and very fit. God had made Adam perfect with the gifts of free will and intellect.

“Hello, friend.” the Lord spoke to Adam for the first time on the seventh day, “Welcome to planet Earth. This is the Garden of Eden and your home. Your name is Adam meaning ‘man’ and I am your creator; I am God.”

“Hello, sir. I can’t see you. Where are you?” Adam replied.

God giggled and the earth rumbled with him, “Would you like to see me?”

“Yes, please.”

The dust in front of Adam swirled up from the ground in the shape of a spiral. He watched in wonder as the small specks of dirt began to take the form of a creature about twelve feet tall. A man with curly, brown, hair and sparkling, green, eyes appeared in front of Adam wearing a shining white, linen robe.

“What are you?” Adam asked.

Again, God laughed, “I’ve taken the form of a human being, a taller one. I’m the same as you,” he said pointing to Adam.

Adam looked down at himself, at his chest, belly, and legs, then at his arms, hands, and fingers. God watched with a smile as Adam realized what he was for the first time. It was funny how the man didn’t know what he looked like because he didn’t have a mirror. If only it would always be this way, the Lord thought and his smile faded a little. Pushing the sad realization aside, the Lord held out his arms and all the animals came to them.

“These are the other creatures that I have placed here for you to be friends with… I’ve given you a name: Adam which means man because that is what you are. These animals do not yet have names, so I thought that maybe you might like to name them.”

“Oh my, yes, God. I would love to name them.”

“Good, I think I shall rest awhile.” said the Lord as He lay down on the soft grass.

If they had wings and traveled by flying, Adam called them birds, or if they had fins and lived in the water, he called them fish. As he played with his friend, Lion, Adam began to realize that he felt a scratchy feeling in his stomach. He told Lion that he would be back, but that he had to go find God.

“God, God!” Adam hollered as he ran up to his master, “I’m hungry!”

“Alright. Adam, do you see these trees all around you?”

He nodded his head as he watched Lion jump up and grab meat from one of the branches of the trees, “Yes.”

“The food on the trees is good for you and wonderful in taste. It’s the most amazing thing you’ll ever eat. You can taste the food of any tree in the garden except for that one,” the Lord pointed to the tree in the middle of the garden, “that’s the Tree of Knowledge. You are forbidden to eat its fruit for it will give you knowledge of all that is good and all that is bad. Sorrow is knowledge, those that know must mourn the deepest; the Tree of Knowledge is not the Tree of Life.”

“You have my word; I will not eat from the Tree of Knowledge.” Then the man went off as the Lord continued to rest, and he ate from the trees.

Eventually night fell, and the man found a place to lie down on a soft bed of grass surrounded by the beautiful trees of Eden. The moonlight gleamed on the garden, giving off only enough light so that the creatures would not be scared of the dark.

As Adam curled up on the ground, he felt his heart darken with something that he’d never felt before: sadness. He let out a sigh, but he was not alone and God heard this. So God silently walked up to Adam but the man didn’t notice. Gently, the Lord touched his shoulder and Adam looked up to him quickly, surprised by the action.

“What’s wrong?” asked God.

“What do you mean?”

“You are sad, I can feel it. What troubles you?”

Once again, Adam sighed, “The animals; they all have companions. Why am I alone?”

“Would you like another friend like the ones they have?”

He nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, God, please.”

“Don’t move.” The Lord held out His hand and stepped forward, towards Adam. Then, God reached into Adam’s side and His hand seemed to disappear. When God pulled His hand back out, He was holding one of the man’s ribs.

Kneeling down, He placed the rib in the dirt. Next, He leaned over and touched His nose to the ground. As the Lord took in a deep breath the winds ceased completely, and when He exhaled, they resumed. And when He stood up, the dirt swirled like before as it took the form of a human: a woman.

There was something about the woman that was slightly different than Adam but he couldn’t quite figure out what. Her hair was longer, and she was skinnier in stature, maybe a little less muscled but there was something more than that.

“This, Adam, is Eve meaning ‘to breathe’. She is your wife, your partner, and your friend.”

Adam nodded eagerly as he absorbed his wife’s full beauty for the first time. She had white hair that was thick, and healthy, and her eyes were ice blue.

God turned to face Eve and gestured to Adam, “Eve, this is Adam. He is your husband, and he loves you very much. He is simply neglecting to say so because he is far too busy staring.”

Eve looked at Adam with a puzzled gaze, “And why, Adam, are you staring?”

“You’re very pretty. That’s all.”

The Lord gave Adam a harsh look, “Pretty? Don’t you think you could find a better word like… beautiful, perhaps?”

“Oh, yes sir.”

The woman blushed and giggled shyly, “You really think so?”

Adam nodded.

“Well, you’re very handsome.” she replied smiling.

God decided to interrupt, “It is one o’clock in the morning. You two must be very tired, you should get some rest.”

Rubbing her eyes, Eve looked to Adam, “I am very exhausted.”

Holding out a hand, the man gestured to the grass below their feet, “Please, lie down.”

“Thank you.”

The Lord left His human form and reclaimed His seat in Heaven so He could watch His creations from above. They slept so peacefully, no nightmares or restlessness but just pure, simple slumber.

After several hours, the sun began to rise and the woman awoke at dawn. She decided to leave the man to sleep as she went to grab breakfast from one of the trees that Adam had told her about. As she walked over to grab fruit from the tree on the left bearing oranges, she noticed the Tree of Knowledge in the middle of the garden. Adam had warned her about what God had said.

The fruit looks so delicious, she thought as she watched the yellow apples slowly sway back and forth in the slight breeze, I will only go look at it.

When she approached the tree, she was amazed to see that up close, writing was scrawled across the surface of the apples. Eve squinted her eyes as she tried to make out what the writing said. Finally, she gave in and picked an apple off the tree but didn’t eat it. The woman just held it close but still couldn’t understand the markings.

“Can’t read, can you?” a sly voice said with a quiet hiss.

It scared Eve so much that she dropped the apple, and turned her head to see a rather long lizard with arms at the very top of his body and legs just before his short tail started. Its arms and legs were the only things separating the long body from the stubby tail.

“Oh, you startled me. No, sir. I can’t read.”

“Well, why not?”

“I don’t know. No one has ever taught me how. Do you know how to read?”

The snake faked a compassionate expression and shook his head, “Poor dear. Of course, I know how to read. I’ve eaten the fruit of this tree and it taught me much. I can build houses and do math.”

“Really? I wish I was as smart as you.” she said sadly.

“Would you like me to teach you how?”

“Oh, Yes! Yes! Please, Snake, please! I would be so grateful.”

The snake smiled, “All you have to do is eat of this fruit.”

Suddenly, Eve felt very distressed and she backed up a step. Part of her wanted to run but curiosity overcame her fear, “God said that we can’t eat from this tree or we’ll die.”

Laughing, the animal replied, “Pfff. He’s a liar. He only tells you that because if you eat from this tree, you will be smarter than God!”

“Really?” the woman had tears in her eyes; she wiped the away, “He lied to us?”

“Oh, yes…” Seeing her tears, the snake coiled up beside her, “I’m sorry, dear.”

Eve picked up the apple, “I’ll show him. He can’t lie to us.” Then she ate the apple.

Next, she ran to Adam with the fruit and told him what the snake had told her. He too, ate the forbidden apples. A few minutes afterwards, the woman once again dropped the apple.

Adam continued to eat as he asked, “What?”

“Y-y-your… naked.”

This caught his attention, and he looked up, “You are too!”

“Well, stop looking at me!”

“You stop looking at me!” Adam snapped back.

Footsteps could be heard as the sound of sandals pitter-patted on the soft grass. Both man and woman looked at each other at the same time in panic. Then, they both ran clumsily to the nearest bush and hid behind it.

“Adam!” the Lord called.

No one answered.

“Eve!”

Silence.

As both of the humans hid in the bush, they heard a heavy sigh, “Adam, Eve, I know you’re there… Why are you hiding?”

“She tricked me, God!” Adam claimed, coming out of his shameful hiding place, “Eve told me to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge!”

“Eve, is this true?”

“Yes,” the woman said as she tried to cover herself with leaves, “but Snake told me about your lies! You only forbade us to eat from the tree so that we wouldn’t gain any knowledge and be as smart as you!”

“Eve,” God put his hand on her shoulder and peered deeply into her eyes, “I gave you the gift of intellect. You have the potential to be intelligent. All you had to do was ask me how to read or do math and I would have taught you. The only thing that eating from that tree has done is given you knowledge of what is good and bad.”

“But what about what Snake said?”

“If you think you’re smarter than me then try to make another human being out of the dust.”
They knelt down and tried to gather the dust into the form of a man but made nothing more than small piles of dirt. Tears rolled down Eve’s cheeks as the Lord God turned to the snake and began to speak.
“You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse; from now on you will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will forever be enemies. They will stomp on your skull and crush your head.
“As for the woman, you’ll have increased trouble in pregnancy and giving birth. In spite of this, you’ll still have desire for your husband…
“And for the man,” He turned to face Adam who has glassy eyes but held in the tears, “The land will be put under a curse in which it will be hard to plant seeds and grown food. You’ll have to work all your life to eat and provide for your family. The animals will be rough and savage at times, you’ll have to fight the furry friends you named until you become dust.”
Then the Lord cast the devil out of the snake. Next, He showed the people how to make clothes and weapons, “It’s time for both of you to leave. You can’t stay here any longer.”
“What?” Eve protested as she began to panic, “Please, God, no! We’re sorry, we’re so very sorry. We…” Adam put a hand on her shoulder and nodded his head as if saying, we earned this.
God wiped his eyes, “I wish I could let you stay but you have to be punished and I can’t let you eat from the Tree of Life. And, I won’t be able to see you like this for much longer. If your children live good lives I might visit them in this form but for now, I shall remain invisible, and will rarely speak but I’ll always listen.”
Then He called down an angel named Michael with a flaming sword to defend the garden. When they had said their goodbyes, the humans began to leave. Just before they passed through the gates of the paradise, Michael grabbed Adam’s arm roughly, his voice was urgent and his eyes serious.
“Wait!” he whispered roughly, “Be careful! The snake was not really a snake. There is evil in this world that you’ll never be able to imagine and it’s out to get you. Let this be a warning; do not be ignorant, do not do bad things, because if you fall, if your children fall, it hurts only one person. It hurts Him.”
Adam nodded and then they left the garden. God went to stand beside Michael and watched as his two creations walked away.
“Why did you create them if you knew this was going to happen?” Michael asked God.
The Lord looked him, “When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your greatest delight.”