Genesis
B
Introduction
Genesis B is
an Old Saxon rendering of the Fall of Adam and Eve that was translated into
Anglo-Saxon and stuck into the middle of the much more mundane poem Genesis A. It is found, along with other Anglo-Saxon
poetic renderings of Biblical stories in what is called the Junius
Manuscript. The four poems in this
manuscript are among the best of the Anglo-Saxon corpus, and the manuscript is
called the Junius manuscript because it belonged to a 17th century
collector of manuscripts named Junius.
He, by the way, was a friend of
Genesis B
puzzled scholars for years because its version of the Fall story is very
different from any others. The serpent
first approaches Adam and is rejected, because Adam doesn't trust him. Then the serpent goes and finds Eve. He argues that he is a messenger from God and
God has changed his mind and now wants them to eat of the previously forbidden
tree. Furthermore, he tells her that if
Adam doesn't listen to him (Godes engle god--God's good
angel/messenger), God will be mighty angry with Adam, and if Eve doesn't
persuade Adam to eat the fruit, they and their children will be sorry
forever. He promises Eve that her eyes
will be opened in a new way, and when she finally takes the fruit, he gives her
a vision of heaven.
The most puzzling thing, though, is that first, Satan
appears to Adam in the shape of a serpent, and Adam tells him bluntly that
"you are not like any of his angels that I saw before" (Þu gelic
ne baest aenigum his engla þat ic aer geseah.). But later, Eve tells Adam that she can
"see by his apparel that he is the envoy (engle) of our
Master" (ll. 655-58). So is Satan
in the shape of a serpent or an angel?
The whole issue is complicated by the fact that the manuscript
illustrations show Satan as a serpent when he is talking to Adam at first, but
then as an angel when he is talking to Eve and Adam and Eve together.
This is the question that I tried to answer in an essay
on this poem, published in Traditio in
1985.[1]
My thesis in that essay is that Satan remains in the form of a serpent
throughout the story, and what is happening here is that Eve is so confused by
the devil's rhetoric that she is convinced she is seeing an angel when she is
really looking at a serpent. The
manuscript is probably 300 years younger than the poem itself, so all I can say
about those illustrations is that the illustrator was as confused and missed
the poem's point just as modern scholars have done.
I base my reading on the biblical commentary or exegisis
on Genesis from the early period of the church through the 14th
century. The biblical commentary from Origen and Ambrose, through Augustine and
Rhabanus Maurus and up through the 16th century consistently
allegorizes the Bible in general and Genesis in particular. There are two major readings, and they can
occur side by side in the same commentary.
The most popular is that Eve represents the senses, Adam
represents the reason, and the serpent represents the suggestion of evil. In this reading, the Fall story is showing us
how the suggestion of sin comes into our minds through our senses (sight,
taste, and touch, especially). Reason is
supposed to consider the report of the senses and refer the decision making to
what it knows from and about God. It is
up to the reason to control the senses and reject the suggestion of evil, but
what usually happens in life is that we let our senses rule our reason and we
fall. This treatment of the Fall story
and the tension between the senses or passion and reason is probably the most
prevalent theme to be found in Medieval literature. It crops up absolutely everywhere. Only Boethius' Wheel of Fortune is more
popular.
If Eve is the senses, then, her insistence that the
serpent's apparel (gearwon/clothing) proves that he is an angel just
demonstrates how confused her eyesight and the senses can become. Adam should have known to trust his own
"view" of the serpent and not to accept Eve's "false
vision."
OK. Allegory #1
completed. But how is it that the senses
can become so confused and actually think they are seeing something different
from what is there? Language, of
course. Language shapes reality and in
particular our perception of reality.
But how does that function of language show up in the
allegory of the Fall and of the poem?
Well the second allegorical reading presented in the commentaries is
that Satan represents heresy, and that the story of the Fall is about the human
tendency to stray away from God and be misled by false doctrine. The early church spent a good deal of its
time all the way up to the 14th century solidifying its doctrine and
trying to stamp out heresies of various kinds.
It seems as if Genesis B might
be reflecting those concerns.
Now, heresy is spread by speaking and
preaching and writing, right? It is
spread by the use of language and rhetoric, and it is through the use of
language and rhetoric here that Satan persuades Eve to stray from God's will,
thinking all the time that she is really fulfilling God's will. So Satan in Genesis B is analogous to a heretical preacher trying to mislead
the flock of the Church. And Genesis B can be seen to be about the
dangers of listening to heresy.
Anyway,
that's one way to read the poem, but you can also read it as an interesting
drama of comitatic loyalty and tension between a husband and a wife, as a study
of women's roles in the period, or as an example of what happens when the
comitatic thane is distanced physically from his hlaford and needs to
rely on messengers for communication.
Notice, for example, how Satan uses Adam's and Eve's comitatic loyalty
to turn them AWAY from their Lord.
Compare this treatment of loyalty to that in "The Battle of
Maldon" and "The Dream of the Rood."
And notice that this wonderful poem is not just allegory,
but a vivid and lifelike characterization of Satan, Adam, and Eve. The language
is also beautiful and you should be able to find some excellent poetic and
rhetorical techniques to appreciate. And
pay attention to the instances when we hear the narrator's voice commenting on
the action. What is his attitude towards
the events of the poem? How does he
judge Eve and Adam? Where does he place
the blame for their fall?
There is so much to enjoy and think about in this poem
that one reading really can’t do it justice.
Hopefully you will go back and reread it several times as you are
exploring the wonderful world of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Translation
From
The Junius Manuscript, Genesis, ll.235-85
".
. .but make use, you two, of all those others;
leave alone that one tree.
235
Guard,
both of you, against that fruit. There
will not be for you any lack of desired things."
They
bowed their heads, then, to the
Heaven-King,
eagerly
together and said all thanks
for
the knowledge and those laws. He
allowed them to live in that land,
wafted
himself, then, to heaven the
Holy Lord,
240
strong-minded
King. The work of his hands
stood
together
on the strand. They did not know
anything of sorrow
to
mourn about, only that they the
will of God
should
always obey. They were dear to God
as
long as they were willing to hold to his
holy word.
245
The All-wielder had of angel-kind
through
handiwork, Holy Lord,
ten
types trimmed; them he trusted well,
knew
that they his rule were
designed to follow,
to
work his will, because he gave
them wit
250
and
with his hands shaped them, Holy
Lord.
He
had set them up so blessedly. One
in particular had he created so shining
so
mighty in his thinking; he let him
wield so much power,
highest
next to Him in Heaven-Kingdom. He had him so brightly created,
so
winsome were his ways in heaven, that
came to him from the Lord's company 255
that
he was like the light of the stars. He
should have loved the work of the Lord.
he
should have held dear to himself his joys in heaven and should have thanked his
Lord
for
those delights that He shared with him in that light; then would He have permitted
him for a long time to wield power.
But
he turned himself to a terrible thing; he
began to heave up trouble against Him,
against
that highest Heaven's Ruler, who
sits on the saintly throne. 260
Dear
was he to Our Lord; yet God might
not be deluded
that
his angel began to become
over-spirited.
He
raised himself up against his
boast-words
began. He did not wish to serve God;
he
said that his body was light and
shining,
265
bright-white
and hue-luminous. Nor might he find in his mind
that
he owed God the duty of an
inferior,
to
serve as a retainer. He
thought to himself
that
he had more strategy and strength
than
the Holy God could have
270
in
his followers.
Dangerous
words spoke
this
angel in his adrenaline rush. He
thought about how, through his own
efforts,
he
a strong-built throne could
establish
higher
in Heaven. He said that his mind
spanned so far
that
he, west and north, was
beginning to work,
275
trimming
timbers. He said that he thought it quite doubtful
that
he would become the retainer
of God.
"What, will I gain?" said he. "There
is no need for me
to
have a leader. I may with my own
hands a multitude of
wonders
work. I have great capacity
280
to
adorn a God-like throne,
more
impressive in Heaven. Why shall I follow
in the wake of His protection?
shove
at Him such subservience? I may be
God as well as He.
Strong
supporters stand beside me, who will
not betray me in the strife,
hard-minded
companions. They have crowned me as
their superior,
285
the
renowned ring-men; with such may
one take counsel,
seize
the prize with a standing army like
this. They are my eager
friends,
loyal
to death in their forged intentions. I
may become their high-king,
rule
in this kingdom. I think it
so right for me,
that
I bother to flatter not a
whit more
290
God
for the sake of any good. Nor
will I long be his retainer."
When the Omnipotent heard all--
that
his angel began in his
great adrenaline rush
to
rise up against his leader and to
speak haughty words
dolt-like,
feuding against his Lord, He ordered that deed atoned for,
295
the
consequences of that striving to be dealt out, and
that he have his punishment,
the
most misery of all. So will
befall each person
who
against his or her ruler generates
strife
with
wickedness against that Sublime Lord. Then was the Mighty One moved to wrath.
The
highest Heaven's Ruler traveled down
from that high throne.
300
Hate
he had won from his leader. Of God's
loyalty he was bereft.
He
had become an enemy to God in his mind. Therefore
he should seek the pit
of
hard hell-punishments because he
strove against Heaven's Ruler.
God
banished him then from His protection and
warped him down to Hell,
into
those deep dales where he morphed into a
devil,
305
the
fiend with all his companions. They
fell, then, out of Heaven
for
as long as three nights and
days,
those
angels, from Heaven into Hell, and
them all the Lord
re-shaped
into devils. Because they
His deed and word
would
not carry out, therefore
he, the Almighty God
310
sent
them into a worse life, under the
earth, deep beneath,
triumph-less, into that dark and dreary Hell.
There
they experience, in evenings
immoderately long,
every
one of the fiends, fire enough.
Then
comes, in the dawn, an eastern wind,
315
frost
fiercely cold. Feast-fire
or spear-frost,
some
hard hardship they must
endure.
The
One created it for their punishment (Their
world was transformed)--
a
horrid existence--- filled Hell
with
those traitors. The angels held
forthrightly
320
the
heights of Heaven, that before
were faithful in their allegiance to God.
The others, now fiends, lay in that fire, that before had so many
struggles
against their
hot
war-flames in the midst of
Hell,
sword-fiery
and hot-breathed flames, similarly
also that bitter smoke,
325
choking
and gloomy, because they the
thegnship
of
God had cut from their hearts. Them
their folly betrayed,
the
swelled heads of those angels; they
did not wish their All-King's
word
to honor. They had punishment enough,
were
then thrown in fire to the bottom
330
of
that hot Hell, through
faithlessness
and
through great excess sought
another land,
that
was light-less though full of
flames,
a
terrible fiery seeing. The
fiends saw
that
they had wrenched themselves into
unnumbered punishments
335
through
their haughtiness and through the
might of God
and
through recklessness, most of all.
Then spoke that berserker king, he
who was before the most shining of angels,
brightest
in Heaven and beloved of his Leader,
dear
to the Lord, until he turned to
folly
340
thinking
because of his desires that he
could become God Himself,
mightily
depraved in mind. That evil
transforms him within,
sends
him down to that netherbed, and
shapes for him afterwards a name.
The
Highest ordered that he should be
called
Satan
afterwards. He ordered him to
over-see
345
that
dark Hell, nor ever to strive
against God.
Satan
mixed words, spoke desperately,
he
that should hold Hell forthrightly,
the
caretaker of that ground. He
was, before, God's angel
radiant
in Heaven, until he overextended his
spirit
350
and
through his recklessness most
of all,
so
that he refused to respect the
duty of
God's
people. It enraged him
inside
his
mind around his heart just as heat
surrounded him outside,
wrathlike
punishment. He then spoke
words:
355
"Is this any angel's place, so excessively unlike
that
other home that we before knew,
high
in Heaven's-Land, that to me my
leader gave,
though
we might not claim it, because of that all-creator,
or
possess our kingdom? He did not
give us our rights
360
in
having thrown us into the fire—pit,
titling
hell to us, depriving us of
heaven-land;
he
has ruled that Heaven with humans
be
settled. That to me is the greatest
misery,
that
Adam shall, he that was made from
dirt,
365
hold
my strong-bodied throne,
live
in pleasures, and we suffer this
punishment,
harm
in this hell. Alas! Had I my hands' power
and
might one time escape out,
be
out for one winter-time, then I with
this band. . .
370
But
iron-bands lie around me.
Ropes
of chain ride me. I am kingdom-less;
so
hard have hell weeds me
fast
enveloped. Here is much fire,
above
and below. I have never seen
375
a
more loathsome landscape. The
Flames are never assuaged,
hot
throughout Hell. Me have rings spanned;
savage
cords restrict my movements.
My
striding is emasculated; fettered are
my feet,
my
hands immobilized. These
hell-doors are
380
made
to stay shut, so that I may never
go
from
this bondage. Around me lie
hard
irons beaten with heat,
great
bars. With these God has me
imprisoned
in this dwelling, so I know that he
understands my mind;
385
and
that he knows also, the Lord of
all people,
that
we should to Adam work evil
around
that heaven-land, had I any power
of my hands.
But now we suffer abuse in hell, (those are darkness and burning),
grim
and groundless. God Himself
has
390
swept
us into these dark mists. Because he may not convict us of any
crime,
prove
that we against him in that land accomplished any injury, he has tonsured the light for us,
cast
us down into the greatest of all punishments. Nor
may we achieve revenge for this,
compensate
him with any retaliation for
tonsuring our light.
He
has now marked out one middle-earth, where
he has created humans
395
after
his own likeness. With them,
he will afterwards populate
the
land of heaven with pure souls. We
should avidly think upon this—
how
we in Adam, if we ever may,
and
in his some of his posterity, too, enclose
terror,
deprive
him there of those joys of theirs, if
we might think of anything.
400
I
desire no longer that light that he
thinks him long to enjoy,
those joys, with his angel-knowledge. Nor may we overcome the fire,
or
weaken the resolution of mighty God. Let
us go wrench it away from the children of men,
that
Heaven-land, now that we cannot have it-- make
it so that they betray their duty,
that
they undo what God with his word ordered. Then
he will become wrathful in spirit, 405
exile
them from his loyal band. Then
shall they seek this Hell
and
these grim grounds. Then will we
have them as our servants
those
progeny, suffering in this fast prison. Begin
now to think about that campaign!
If
I ever before gave any thegn
treasures,
when we in that good kingdom
410
were
blessedly seated and had
autonomy in our assembly,
then
he never at a better time might
compensate me,
repay
my gifts.
If any
one of my thegns
moreover,
desires to give his consent,
he
up from here might
415
come
through these gates, and have craft
within him
so
that he with feather-limbs might fly,
wind
through the firmament to
where stand, created,
Adam
and Eve
in
Earth-kingdom
bewound
with joys, while we be
warped hither
420
in
this deep dale. Now
they are to the Lord
worth
much,
and they
might gain that inheritance
that
we should have in
Heaven-land,
our
kingdom, by right. That bequest
is granted
to
human kind.
That is
in my mind so distressing,
425
harrowing
to my spirit, that they
heaven-kingdom
should
gain as inheritance. If any of you
might
achieve
with cleverness that they the word
of God's
law
abandon, they will immediately
become hateful to Him.
If
they break his commandments, then He
will become irritated with them. 430
Their
joys afterwards will transform and turn
into a spear-sharp punishment,
some
hard harm's-shearing. Think of this,
all of you,
how
you might betray them! Afterwards,
I might comfortably rest
in
these chains, if he that
kingdom loses.
He
who makes that happen, to him will be
rewards prepared
435
ever
after, that we here in might,
in this fire, struggle
to bring forth.
He
will sit idle right by myself, whoever
comes to say
into
this hot Hell, that they have held
contemptible
the
words, deeds, and laws of the
Heaven-King.
440
One began to prepare himself then for enmity to God,
eager
in his disguise, (He had a
deceitful mind),
he
set helmet on head and then
bound it full hard.
Spanned
with buckles, he knew many
speeches
445
of
false words.
He
wound his way up from there,
turned
himself out through the Hell-doors, (He
was in a determined mood).
Light
in air but with a loathly-turned
mind,
he
struck that fire in two, through
the craft of the fiends.
He
wished darkly the retainers of the
Lord,
450
with
crime-deeds, people, to undo,
mis-lead
and mis-teach, so that they
would become hateful to God.
He
then fared forth through
fiend's craft
until
he Adam found, on
Earth-land,
hand-shaped
of God, prepared,
455
worked
to be wise, and his wife
with him,
the
fairest of women, knowing
full many
of
God's bounties which
to them as his followers
the
Creator of humankind, had granted
Himself.
And
they between two trees
stood
460
that
were laden about with fruit,
Clothed
with a crop, as them the
good Ruler,
high
Heaven-king, set with
his hands
so
that there the child of man must
choose
between
good and evil, each man,
465
between
joy and woe. These fruits
were not alike!
One
was so joy-like, brilliant
and shining,
grace-filled
and lithesome-- that was the tree of
life.
He
must in eternity after
live,
prospering
in the world, who tasted of that
fruit.
470
Because
of that fruit, age after that would
never harm him,
nor
heavy disease, but he
must continually be
long
in pleasure
and
possess his life
in
fealty to heaven's king here in
the world,
to
have to him, as a covenant, honor
decreed
475
in
that high heaven, when he
went from here.
Then
was the other entirely
dark,
dim
and smoky.
That was
the tree of death.
It
bears many bitter things. One should
recognize them both,
each
person,
of evil
and good
480
woven
together in this world. He
will in his heart ever
with
sweat and with sorrow afterwards
live
who
tasted the fruit
of
that tree.
Age
would bereave him
of
strength and valiant deeds,
of
joys and of lordship,
and
Death is allotted him.
485
For
a short while only
he
enjoys his life,
then
seeks that land
darkest
in fire,
to
serve the fiends there
where
there is the greatest vileness
for
people for much longer time. All
that he knew, the hated one,
dark
messenger of the devil who
strove against the Lord.
490
He cast himself into a worm's body and wound himself around
that
death-tree, through demon's
craft.
He
took there its fruit and made
his way afterwards
there where he knew to be the handiwork of Heaven's King.
He
began then the questioning with
his opening words,
495
the
hateful one, with lying: "Long
you for anything,
Adam,
from God? I am on his errand hither
traveled
from far. Nor was it long ago
that
I sat by God Himself. Then he
ordered me to go on this journey
to
bid you to eat this fruit. He said
that your ability and wisdom
500
and
security of mind would
increase
and
your body-house greatly
lighten,
your
shape become more shining. He said
that for you no need of treasure
would
there be in the world. Now
you have joys
earned
by your loyalty,
given
from Heaven's King.
505
You
have served your superior with
thanks.
You
have deeds that are secretly known by the Lord. I
heard him your works and word
praise
in His glory and speak
about your life.
With
your wonted devotion I know you will carry out
the
orders that, into this land, hither,
his
messenger brings. In the
world are broad,
510
green
gardens and God sits
in
the highest
the
all-wielder, above. He did
not want the difficulty
of
going on this journey Himself,
the
Lord of men, but he sent his
subordinate
515
to
speak to you. Now he orders you
with declarations
to
be crafty. Eagerly carry
out
his
desire. Take you this
fruit in hand.
Bite
it and taste. Then your mind
will widen,
your
form be augmented. The good ruler
sends to you,
520
your
superior, this help from
heaven's kingdom."
Adam spoke where he stood on the earth,
self-fated
of men: "When I the
Victory-Lord,
Mighty
God, heard speak,
in
a stronger voice, He ordered me standing
here
525
to
hold to His decree and
granted me this newly-born
white-shining
wife and ordered me to be wary
that
I not be deluded, concerning
this death's tree,
betrayed
too greatly. He said that
that dark Hell
should
hold one who by his heart
anything
530
of
hate would perform. I know not
whether you with lying come
with
a hidden agenda or whether
you are the Lord's
messenger
from heaven. Listen! I know
nothing about your business
nor
your words or knowledge desire
to understand more,
nor
of your supposed journey. I
know what He Himself bid,
535
our
Protector, when I saw Him
nearest to me:
he
ordered me to revere his word and
hold to His will,
to
listen to his law. You are not like
any
of his angels that I ever saw,
nor
do you show me any token
540
that
He sends to me as troth,
my
Leader in loyalty. Therefore
I cannot hear you,
but
you must fare forth. I hold
myself fast in faith
up
to that almighty God that me
with his arms wrought,
here
with his hands. He may
grant to me from his high kingdom
545
gifts
with all good things without
sending a subordinate."
He slunk away then, wrathful, where he saw that woman,
Eve,
standing on the earth-land,
shaped
shiningly. He said that the
greatest injuries
on
all her offspring ever afterwards
550
would
devolve in the world: "I know that at you the good Ruler
will
grow angry
when I
this message to him
myself
relate, that when I from my
journey came,
over
a long way, yet I accomplished
not well
that
errand that he hither from the
east
555
on
this journey sent. Now
shall He himself come
in
answer to you. His
errand
could
not be carried by his messenger.
Because of that I know that he will be irritated with you,
mighty
in mood. If you, however, wish,
willing
wife, to obey my words,
560
you
might then his good counsel, his
advice consider.
Ponder
in your breast that you might
from both you two
ward
off punishment, as I you
instruct.
Eat
this fruit! Then your eyes
will become so light
that
you might most widely over all the
world
565
see
afterwards, even the throne
of
your Leader Himself, and have his
devotion forthrightly.
You
might, then, Adam
direct afterwards,
if
you have his affection and he
your words trusts.
If
you tell him truly what you
yourself have
570
in
your heart,
that
you the bidding of God,
the
truth, carry out, he then
the hate-strife
the
only present evil, shall
relinquish
from
his breast-chest, as both we
two to him
successfully
speak. Envelope him
eagerly
575
so
that he carries out your law, lest
the hatred to God
Ruler
of you both, become a
habit.
If
you accomplish that enterprise, most
shining of women,
I
will hide from your Leader those many
baleful words that
Adam
to me spoke, slothful words.
580
He
called me untrustworthy, said that I
yearned to harm him,
a
hostile messenger, was not God's angel.
But
I know so well all the state of the
angels,
the
high vault of Heaven; it wasn't
that long a while
that
I eagerly served God
585
through
loyal spirit, my
the
Lord Himself; nor am I like a
devil."
So he led her with lying and enticed with deceit
the
women into that un-right, until
within her began
to
well up the worm's thought, (God
had to her the weaker spirit
590
the
Creator, allotted),
so
that she began in her belief
to
follow after that teaching; therefore
she from that hated one took
against
the word of the Lord, the
death tree's
pain-working
fruit. Never was a worse
deed
laid
out by humans! It is a
great wonder
595
that
the everlasting God ever would
suffer,
the Lord, that a
thane
should
be misled by so much lying that came
in the shape of teaching.
She
then ate that produce, broke the
all-wielder's
word
and will.
Then
might she widely see,
600
through
the gift of the enemy who
betrayed her with lies,
cunningly
deluded, that came to her criminally,
so
that to her seemed brighter heaven
and earth,
and
all this world more brilliant, and
God's work
great
and mighty, though she saw it not
605
through
human thought, but the thief
eagerly
enveloped
the soul, he who before
gave that vision,
that
she so widely might see
over
Heaven-land. Then the ill-spoken one
said,
through
fiendship, (he taught nothing at
all of any profit),
610
"You
might now see for yourself, as I
have no need to tell you,
Eve
the good, that to you the
world is not the same
in
brightness and form, since you
trusted my words,
listened
to my lore. Now shines
the light far.
Gladness
begins that I brought from God,
615
brightness
from Heaven. Now you might feel
it.
Tell
Adam what vision you have
through
the craft of my cunning. If yet
through pure conduct
he
listens to my lore, then I
will give him enough of that light
with
which I have so adorned you with goodness.
620
Nor
will I remember his hate-speeches, that
his honor not be for him
too
much lessened by those many hateful
things he said to me.
Likewise
shall his offspring live
afterwards:
when
they act out of loathing, they
shall earn love,
beat
their
Then went to Adam the most shining of women,
of
wives most bright that
ever entered the world,
because
she was the handiwork of the
Heaven-King,
although
she then deceitfully was
undone,
misled
with lying, so that she confused
630
evil
for good Through that wraith's thought,
through
that devil's treachery let go of glory,
loyalty
to her
for
a great while. There will be to
that person great woe
that
does not warn himself against evil when
he has the chance!
635
Some
she bore in her hands, some
lay at her heart,
the
apple unblessed, that
before her forbid
the
Lord of Lords, that produce of the
death tree.
And that word the
Elder of Wonders spoke
so
that humankind would not need great
death,
640
those
thegns, suffer, but he to each servant
offered
Heaven-land, the Holy Lord,
widespread
joys, if they that one fruit
would
forgo, which that evil tree
bore
on its boughs, filled with
bitterness.
645
That
was death's tree that them the Lord
forbid.
He
deceived her then with lying, he
who was hateful to God,
abhorrent
to the Heaven-King, both Eve's
spirit and
the
woman's weak thought, so that she
began to trust his words,
listen
to his lore, and took
on faith
650
that
he that business from God
had
brought
that
he to her so warily
had
said with words,
showed
her a token and promised
truth,
his
honest intent. Then she to her
leader spoke:
"Adam, my dear, this crop is so sweet,
655
blithe
in my breast, and this shining
messenger,
God's
good angel, I can see by his
apparel
that
he is the errand-man of our
Leader,
Heaven-King's
man. His loyalty is better
for us
to
earn than his enmity.
660
If
you him today anything of insult
spoke,
he
forgives it you, if you him
subservience
will
offer. What? Shall you so hatefully strive
against
your Leader's herald? We two
need his support;
he
may intercede for us to the
All-Ruler,
665
to
Heaven-King. I may see from here
where
he Himself sits (that is south and east),
bewound
with joys, He Who the world created;
I
see his angels
swirling
around him
with
feather-bodies, greatest of all folk,
670
a
prosperous company. How might to
me such perception be given
if
it immediately God did not send,
Heaven's
Ruler? I can hear hymns
and
see so widely over all the world
over
this broad creation. I may sweet
songs
675
Hear
in heaven. Light transforms my
spirit,
without
and within, since I ate that produce.
Now
have I it here in my hands, God's
very own;
I
give it to you avidly. I
believe that it comes from God,
brought
by his bidding, that to me the
herald conveyed
680
with
concerned words. It is like
nothing
else
on earth, except as this
messenger says,
that
it came immediately from
God."
She spoke thickly to him and imprisoned him all day
in
that dark deed so that they their
Lord's
685
will
broke. The enemy messenger stood
near,
led
them on with lust and
pressured them with wiles,
pursued
them to danger; the fiend was
full near
that
on that dangerous mission had
come
over
a long way.
He was
determined the people
690
into
that great death, humans to
plunge,
mis-taught
and misled, so that they God's
joys,
the
Almighty's gift, once
relinquish,
the
ownership of Heaven-land. What! That hell-thief
new
well
that
they God's ire
695
should
have,
and
hell-torment.
That
nasty strife, of
necessity they took
as
soon as God's bidding they had
disobeyed.
She
misled him
with
lying words
into
that bad decision, the
shining woman,
700
the
brightest of wives, so that
she spoke his desires,
was
a help to him, God's
handiwork,
in
mis-teaching.
She spoke then to Adam, the most shining of women,
full
thickly, until that thegn began
705
to
warp his spirit, so that he that
promise trusted
that
to him that woman said with
words.
She
did it, though, out of loyal intention, did
not know that there harms so many,
doom-fires, would pursue
human
kind, because she absorbed
in her soul
710
what
she from that horrid herald heard
as lessons
But
through that she her duty to
Heaven-King
worked
with those words. That woman that
man such
tokens
showed
and troths
promised,
until
Adam in his breast
715
warped
his spirit and his heart began
to
wend to her will. He from that wife
took
Hell
and death-journey, though it was
not bidden him to do so,
but
it the name of "fruit" should
possess.
It
was however a death's dream and
devil's spew,
720
Hell
and death-journey and loss of
companions,
death
of humankind, that they
took as nourishment,
a
pestilent produce. So it
came into him,
touched
at his heart. Laughed then
and pranced
that
despicable, bitter messenger, said
thanks to both their
725
Leader:
"Now have
I your loyalty
made
certain
and
fulfilled your pleasure
for
full many a day. Men are
misled,
Adam
and Eve. To them is sure
rejection
by
Creation's Ruler now they his
commandment,
730
his
teaching, unlearn. Therefore they must
not hold
Heaven-land
for long, but they to Hell
shall go,
on
that dim journey. So you no
longer envy of him need
bear
in your breast, where you
lie bound,
mourning
in mind because here
humans inhabit
735
that
high heaven, while
we, now, injuries,
punishment-work,
endure, and a smoky land.
And
through your great spirit,
many
are undone,
cast
out from the high-built Heaven-land,
from
the godlike gardens. God grew angry
at us
740
because
we would not to him in
Heaven's-land
bow
our heads to the Holy Lord
in
subservience. But it was not
appealing to us
that
we to him, in thegnship, would act as
his servants.
Therefore
to us the Ruler turned wrathful in
mood,
745
hard
of heart, and drove us into
Hell,
into
that most fire-filled land
and
with his hands afterwards in
Heaven-kingdom
our
right, the heaven's-stool, and that
land gave out
to
human kind. May your mood
brighten,
750
blithe
in breast, because here are
both two of them undone,
for
the child of men shall from Heaven-land,
a
people misled, and into that
flame, to you
come
into the heat. And your injury is
made good,
sorrow
etched into their minds. So
whatever we here suffer in misery,
755
it
is now to Adam all repayed
with
hate of his
humans
overwhelmed by death. Therefore
is my mind healed,
my
spirit roomy around my heart. All
injuries to us are completely avenged,
the
horrors that we long have suffered. Now
will I afterwards approach that flame,
760
Satan
I will seek there; he is in
that dismal hell
held,
spanned with rings." He wove
himself then down below,
the
most bitter envoy. He should
those broad flames
seek,
go laughing into Hell. They
sorrowed, both the two,
Adam
and Eve,
and
between them often
765
Groan-words
went. They dreaded God's,
Their
Leader's, hate, the enmity
of Heaven-king
Greatly
oppressed them; they had
disinherited themselves,
His
word perverted. That wife
groaned,
held
her rueful head, (She had
the protection of God's
770
teaching
let go).
when she
that light saw
departing
elsewhere that to her
through un-truth
as
token was shown, she who
counseled him to that wrong
so
that they enmity in Hell should have
with
uncounted shames. For that to him
spirit-sorrow
775
Burned
in breast. For a while they fell to prayer
Sin-hued
together, and the
Victory Lord
Greeted
as good and named God,
Heaven's
Ruler, and asked Him
that
they his harm-shearing might have,
780
eagerly
repay what they had of God's
bidding
broken. Bare they saw
their
corpses; they had not yet in
that land
set
dwellings, nor did they know
anything
of
the sorrow of work,
but
they well might
785
live
on that land if they would God's
teaching
fulfill
forthwith. Then they spoke many
sorrow-words
together, sin-hued, the two of
them.
Adam mixed words and to Eve spoke:
"What! You, Eve, have accomplished with evil
790
both
of our exiles. See you
now that smoky Hell,
greedy
and hungry? Now you might
the raging ones
hear
from here.
Not like
Heaven-land
is
that fire.
But
this is the best land
that
we two through favor of our Father might
have had
795
if
you had not listened to that one who
counseled this harm to us,
so
that we two the Ruler's word
abandoned,
Heaven-king's
command. Now we two must, weeping,
Sorrow
for this exile. Therefore he
us both warned Himself
that
we two our punishment should beware,
800
greatest
of harms. Now hunger
and thirst cut me,
bitter
in my breast, from which
both of us before
were
protected
for all
time.
How
shall we two now live if we must be
in this land
when
here wind comes, west or east,
805
south
or north?
Mist
rolls up,
comes
the hail shower pelting down
from heaven.
Frost
arrives with it; it is fiercely cold.
Sometimes
from heaven heat shines,
The
blinking-bright sun, and we two
stand here naked,
810
Unprotected
by cloth. There is nothing
before us
as
a shower-shade, nor any
mortgage-payment
to
secure meat,
but
towards us is mighty God,
The
Ruler, wrath-minded. To whom shall
we two turn now?
Now
I may rue me that I
begged Heaven's God,
815
the
good Ruler,
that he
you here shape for me
from
my limbs,
now that
you have me mis-taught
into
my Leader's hate. So now I
will rue
ever
after
that
I with my eyes ever saw you."
Then spoke Eve afterwards, the most shining of women,
820
brightest
of wives. She was God's creation,
though
she then in devil's craft had
been enveloped.
"You
may reproach me for it, my
friend Adam,
with
your words. Nevertheless, it
cannot hurt worse
in
your mind, the sorrowing, than it does
me in my heart."
825
Her then Adam answered,
"If
I the Ruler's will knew,
what
I for his harm's-shearing would
have,
Never
would you see one quicker, although
Heaven's God ordered me
to
walk on the sea, immediately hence
830
to
fare on the flood. Never would be the
torment so deep,
the
swamp-stream so great that his courage doubted mine,
but
I would go to ground, if I God's
will
might
accomplish. There is no pleasure for
me in the world,
in
any thegnship, now that I my
High-king's allegiance
835
have
destroyed so that I might not
have it.
But
us two thus naked must not, both
together
contend
with madness. Let us go out of this grove
into
the shelter of the forest." They
turned themselves then, both the two,
restraining
their groaning in that green grove.
840
They
sat apart from each other, awaited
the ruling against themselves
of
Heaven's-king that they then
might not have
what
before he bestowed on them, Almighty
God.
Then
they their corpses bedecked with
leaves,
covered
themselves by means of that grove; they
had no cloth.
845
But
they fell to prayer, both two
together,
every
morning
begged
the Almighty
that
he would not forget them, God
Almighty,
and
would guide them to him, to
that good Ruler,
teaching
how they in that understanding might
live.
850
[1] Susan
Burchmore, "Traditional Exegesis and the Question of Guilt in the Old
English Genesis B." Traditio
XLI (1985): 117-124.