Adam and Eve [antikvár]

ADAM and EVE THE ANIMALS I God made man, like Himself, lonely. The animals had mates, but man had a soul. God admired this distinction, but man at that time did not. There's an old story that Adam took his soul among the animals, and tried to make friends with the dog, the horse, the cow and the cat. Up to a point he succeeded, but a day came at last when the divine loneliness could not be endured. "You mean, you want a mate—like a mere animal?" "I'm afraid I do," said Adam. "It doesn't sound elevated, as you put it, but I can think of nothing better." God made Lilith, the most seductive body of a woman the oldest poet remembers. But a day came when Adam complained of this loneliness also. "She certainly is beautiful," he said, "and she's aggressively fond of me, but she has no soul." "No, you have all there is." "I'm sorry for that," said Adam. "Mate isn't the word—I want another soul." Then God created Eve, and divided the one soul between them. Not the addition Adam asked for, but division. She became man's wife. II