a short story by Ken Wear, May, 1988

There was a young man who lived in the ancient city of U--- on the banks of the Eu--- River. Being the eldest son of the Chief Priest to O---, the principal god of the communion of deities, the young man had been carefully prepared for his future priestly role. Not only had he been apprenticed to the city's brightest scholars, but he had watched his father and studied the city's leading citizens during the various sacrifices and other rites in the temple. Thus he became first apprentice to his father and ranking member of a succession hierarchy embracing his and other honored families.

But the young man's spirit rebelled at the orderly elevation and suppression of deities, each reigning on his appointed days and for his appointed functions. During the long days of agonizing and commitment, before reaching the age of majority when he must swear undying allegiance to O--- and his retinue, the great I Am, the God above gods, the one true God, revealed Himself to the young man in a dream. Thereafter he knew peace in his heart, but his father, sensing a loss of reverence for ceremonial artifacts, soon learned of his son's disaffection.

To protect the purity of temple theology, it had become tradition that a dissenter be imprisoned until his elevation to martyrdom on the next sacrificial occasion. When the young man's new custom of prayer to an unrecognized deity became whispered among the succession hierarchy, the father ordered his unrepentant son's arrest and purification for sacrifice to O--- as an act of allegiance. But remembering his own days of doubting youthfulness, he had compassion on the young man and allowed him to escape from the city.

Thus exiled, the young man journeyed as God directed him, to a place which abounded in all the essentials of survival. And there he worshiped God with a grateful heart. And so, with his needs provided, he devoted himself to communion with God with a fervor that caused the past to lapse into an unreal imagining. As though he had never lived with sinful mortals, as though his only home had been this garden, indeed, as though he had sprung from the soil itself or been shaped by God from a handful of dust.

Lacking the artifacts of worship, the young man selected a place under a tree in the center of his garden and there erected an altar of stones. And to that altar he turned whenever he prayed, so in time it assumed the status of holy place. In its season the tree bore tempting and inviting fruit, but the garden's bounty was adequate without this fruit and he made an oath before God to respect his holy place by leaving this, of all fruits in the garden, unpicked and uneaten. And the young man was drawn closer to God through his self-denial.

But the young man did not shed mortal yearnings, and his spirit grew restless for a companionship more nearly like that of mortal and mortal. And for this he prayed earnestly. God listened, knowing the mischief that would surely follow; yet knowing the purity of heart of this one follower within all His creation, He sought how He might grant His man's wish. As the young man's yearnings increased, the affection of his pets and other animals in his garden became insufficient to satisfy his spirit, so God relented that His man should no longer be alone.

One day as he slept travelers, having lost their way in a storm, came upon his garden and, wishing his assistance, posted one of their members, a young woman, to stand watch till he awakened. When he awoke and saw her, appearing before him as though out of the mists, he made haste to the altar and there thanked God for bringing forth a companion to share the joys and mysteries of his garden. The travelers were amazed at the young man's story and marveled that one so young and educated and beautiful of body and spirit had taken up life in such a lovely yet isolated oasis. They tarried and regained their strength. And upon their departure the young woman remained.

They agreed to covenant themselves to each other after the fashion of husband and wife. And she learned of God and the altar and the tree set apart at the altar.

And they two worked together as one to satisfy their needs from the plenty of the garden. But two appetites so burdened the garden that the tree near the altar with its unfailing yield soon became desirable for food. The man remained firm, but the woman wavered. So it was that one day while he was away she was tempted to satisfy her hunger with the fruit of that tree. At once when she had tasted it, her conscience was stricken and she began to wonder what her husband might do. So she thought to meet him before he reached the garden and they two would eat fruit of the tree along the way. His wrath was great when he recognized the strangeness of the fruit, and he would have hurt her, but he was hungry and she pleaded that the snake should share the blame since he had tempted her. But they both knew they had broken faith with his oath and had stained the purity of their worship.

In time she brought forth a son, and their joy was increased. But the lad needed milk, and cattle needed fields to graze. So the man went forth from the garden to till the soil and lead his cattle to pasture. A second son and other children she bore him, and other stragglers cast themselves upon his mercy and entered the shelter of his household, so the man, no longer young, increased in wealth and his house in strength. And he and his house continued steadfast in praising God and trying to do what was pleasing in His sight.

And it came to pass in later years, after many retellings and some distortions, that the story of Adam, the first man to whom God revealed Himself and of whom we have record, and his wife, Eve, was captured in the written word. The hand of God was ever present in the retellings, and the worship of God has never since been absent from the affairs of man.