Classic Poem

ll. 169-191) ....It did not seem good to the Lord of heaven that
Adam should longer be alone as warden and keeper of this new
Paradise. Wherefore the King, Almighty God, wrought him an
helpmeet; the Author of life made woman and brought her unto the
man whom He loved. He took the stuff of Adam's body, and
secretly drew forth a rib from his side. He was fast asleep in
peaceful slumber; he knew no pain nor any pang; there came no
blood from out the wound, but the Lord of angels drew forth from
his body a growing rib, and the man was unhurt. Of this God
fashioned a lovely maid, breathing into her life and an eternal
soul. They were like unto the angels. The bride of Adam was a
living spirit. By God's might both were born into the world in
the loveliness of youth. They knew no sin nor any evil, but in
the hearts of both there burned the love of God.

(ll. 192-195) Then the Gracious King, Lord of all human kind,
blessed these two, male and female, man and wife, and spake this
word:

(ll. 196-205) "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the green earth
with your seed and increase, sons and daughters. And ye shall
have dominion over the salt sea, and over all the world. Enjoy
the riches of earth, the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the
air. To you is given power over the herds which I have hallowed,
and the wild beasts, and over all living things that move upon
the earth; all living things, which the depths bring forth
throughout the sea, shall be subject unto you."

((LACUNA -- One or more leaves missing))

(ll. 206-234) And our Lord beheld the beauty of His works and the
abundance of all fruits of this new creation: Paradise lay
pleasant and inviting, filled with goodly store and endless
blessings. Bountifully a running stream, a welling spring,
watered that pleasant land. Not yet did clouds, dark with wind,
carry the rains across the spacious earth; nathless the land lay
decked with increase. Out from this new Paradise four pleasant
brooks of water flowed. All were divisions of one beauteous
stream, sundered by the might of God when He made the earth, and
sent into the world. And one of these the mortal dwellers of
earth called Pison, which compasseth the land of Havilah about
with shining waters. And in that land, as books tell us, the
sons of men from far and near find out the best of gold and
precious gems. And the second floweth round about the land and
borders of the Ethiopians, a spacious kingdom. Its name is
Gihon. The third is Tigris, whose abundant stream lieth about
the limits of Assyria. Likewise also the fourth, which now
through many a folk-land men call Euphrates....

((LACUNA -- At least one, possibly two, leaves missing))