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In the beginning was the Word. And the word was, "Wait". And lo, deeply did the emptiness echo. It echoed mightily, and the very firmament did shake. Then God created the heavens and the earth. The heavens were bleak, the earth was bleak. All was darkness and darkness stretched across the bleak earth. Thus He spake, and he said, "Let there be light". And light infused the earth, and He separated the light from the darkness. The night became night, and the day became day. And he saw that it was good. And thus the Lord said, "Wait". And the world did wait. Whereupon the the Lord proclaimed, "Let there be an expanse to separate the water." And thus was born the land. And it was barren, under the night and the day. And the seas were barren, under the night and the day. And the Lord saw that it was good. And the wind blew upon the stone, and the rock tumbled into the sea, yet verily did time pass. And the Lord said, "Wait". Whereon the lord said, "Let the land and the sea produce vegetation, trees and shrubs and nettles and fruits and grasses, all according to their various kinds." And lo, did the grasses of the sea stretch beneath the waves, and the seeds of the trees of the land spread to the many lands under the night and under the day, according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And thus the Lord said, "Wait". And the lands grew rich, and the seas abounded in the many fruits of the grasses and the winds spread fragrant over the wide earth. When this moment had come to pass, the Lord said, "Let the land and water teem with living creatures, and let the birds and the insects fly above the lands, each according to its kind". And yea, verily did the creatures flourish, and grow, and spread themselves over the water and the land, under the night and under the day. And the Lord saw that it was good. And thus, he spake, "Wait". And then the Lord said, "We shall make beings in our images. And yea, they shall have a dominion, in accordance with the order of things." And thus God created Humanity, in the image of male and female did He create them. To them He said, "Be fruitful and increase in number, for there are too few. Fill the earth and rule it, as you are ruled, under the night and under the day." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every fruit of those plants that bear fruit. They will be yours for food and shelter. To all creatures with the breath of life, I give the green plants as food." And it was so. Whereupon the voices of the people cried out in unison, "What are we to do upon this Earth, oh Lord, we the people of the Earth?" And the Lord replied, "Wait". And lo, they waited. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they had been created. When the Lord of the earth made the night and the day, there was but nothing in the vast emptiness of the world. And then were the rivers and oceans from the springs in the earth, and the shrubs of the land and the grasses of the sea. And then there were the creatures of the earth, each according to its kind, and from the dust the Lord created humanity. The Lord God made a helper for each man, in accordance with the order and the law, so that a man will thus leave his father and his mother and be united with his wife, and they will become one. Man and his wife were both naked, and verily did they feel no shame. And the order and the law was maintained. Now the Lord had created a garden in the east, in Paradise, and there he placed the the humanity that he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees and flowers and shrubs grow, each according to their various kinds, and lo, they were pleasing to the eyes of the people and they did dissipate the hunger of the people. In the middle of Paradise did the Lord plant the Sacred Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, guarded by His servants. The Lord did put the people to work in the land of Eden, to take care of the land of Eden and make it strong. And He commanded the people, "Of all of the fruits of this land take part, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for then you shall suffer." And the Lord saw that it was good. Yet the people cried out, "Oh Lord, what are we to do, where are we to go, how are we to be?", and the Lord replied, "Wait". And so the people waited. The land grew rich, and the people were innumerable. Across Paradise did the people spread, and the guardians of the gates maintained the order of things and the creatures in their order under the night and under the day. And the Lord saw that it was very good indeed. And the people moaned, and the people cried, and they did seek an answer. "Oh Lord, for we are many here, and there is no respite from the day and the night, we would seek a boon. Oh Lord, how are we to be?" Whereupon the Lord said, "Wait". And the people did wait. Now into Paradise came a foul wind, and this wind knew the secrets of the Earth and the secrets of the Seas and the secrets of the Sky. The Serpent was the cleverest of the creatures, and was tempted by the Wind. And the wind possessed the serpent, and the serpent spake thus to the people, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The people said to the serpent, "We may eat from the trees in this garden, this paradise, but God did say, 'you must not eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for then you shall suffer.'" "You will not surely suffer", said the serpent, "for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will finally be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The people did not trust the serpent, but waited. And lo, they waited, and waited, but the serpent chided the people. And thus did some of the people see the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They saw that it was good. And they ate of the tree. Whereupon they knew that they were ruled, in the order of things and the law, under the day and under the night. And they saw that they themselves ruled, under the day and under the night. And they hid from the others and the Servants of the Lord, lest they be found. Whereupon the Lord was surveying His garden, and he saw that some people were hiding. And the Lord God called to the people who had eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, "Where are you?" And the people did reveal themselves to their Lord. Those who had partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil asked the Lord, "Why are we ruled and made to tend the garden, and why do we rule over the creatures of the land and of the sea and of the air, under the night and under the day?" And the Lord replied, "Who said that you were ruled? Have you eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that I commanded you not to eat from?" And the people answered, "Oh Lord, we were deceived, for a serpent came to us, and we ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil." And the Lord said to the serpent, "Did you tell the people to eat of the fruit of the tree I had forbidden them?", and the serpent said, "Yes, but it was the foul wind upon the air that made me speak such." And the Lord knew the wind, and the people knew that they had been deceived by the wind, through the serpent. And they knew that the wind was evil, too. And lo, they lamented their knowledge of good and evil. "You have eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You shall be made to suffer under the day and under the night." The people cried out, but the servants of the Lord delivered unto them suffering. Those who had eaten of the fruit of the aforesaid tree worked in the garden of Paradise. They tilled the soil and they broke the stones and they were reviled by those who kept the order of things and the law, for all humanity was made to suffer. And the people appealed to the Lord, "But why must we be made to suffer, for we know of good and evil, and we desire to be good." And the Lord said, "Wait." But the people would not wait. They were exhausted with waiting under the night and under the day. Several among them gathered, and they took their council. "We must return to ignorance", said one. "We must not rule, and then perhaps we may not be ruled ourselves", said the second. "We must hide in the trees, so that we may not be found", said the third. "We must rule, so as to escape the vilest toil", said the fourth. "We must accept our penury, and obey the order of things and the law", said the fifth. And the sixth said, "We must flee." So they plotted and they deceived the Guardians of the Gate and fled from Paradise. But their flight was checked by their very disorder, and the Lord commanded the people, "Return." But they did not. And they followed the foul wind, but it led them to a great chasm upon which floated the void, and they were afraid of falling. And the wind laughed, and heckled the people, and taunted them, victorious in deceit. After the people had fled, the Lord sent after them a cherubim and a flaming sword flashing to and fro to hunt for the people in the woods. And the people surveyed the chasm, and saw the cherubim and the flaming sword flashing to and fro, and bemoaned the fate that awaited them. But the people scattered to the corners of the earth, and those that had eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil were distributed among those who had not, and they hid. And they lived on the fields of the earth, and on the mountains, and in the forests and in the snowy wastes and in the deserts. And they asked, "What is the answer to our fears, and how are we to live?" And then the Lord came and sought them out, and the foul wind came and sought them out, and they could hide no more. The people took their own council. One said, "We should surrender to the Lord, and seek His forgiveness." The second said, "We must not resist, but not surrender." The third said, "We must flee and find another place to hide." The fourth said, "We must betray those who committed the vilest crimes, so that the rest may be forgiven." The fifth said, "We must wait and be punished as we deserve." And the sixth said, "No. We will not be ruled. We will not rule. And we will flee no more." |