Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets. Baring-Gould Sabine

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      “And where shall I dwell till the consummation of all things?” he asked of Allah.

      “In ruined buildings, and in tombs, and in dens and caves of the mountains.”

      “And what shall be my nourishment?”

      “All beasts slain in the name of false gods and idols.”

      “And how shall I slake my thirst?”

      “In wine and other spirituous liquors.”

      “And how shall I occupy myself in hours of idleness?”

      “In music, dancing, and song.”

      “What is the word of my sentence?”

      “The curse of God till the Judgment-day.”

      “And how shall I fight against those men who have received Thy revelation, and are protected by the two angels?”

      “Thy offspring shall be more numerous than theirs: to every man born into this world, there will be born seven evil spirits, who, however, will be powerless to injure true Believers.”

      God then made a covenant with Adam’s successors; He rubbed Adam’s back, and lo! from out of his back crawled all generations of men that were to be born, about the size of ants, and they ranged themselves on the left and on the right. At the head of those on the right stood Mohammed, then the other prophets and the faithful, distinguished from those on the left by their white and dazzling splendor. Those on the left were headed by Kabil (Cain).

      God then acquainted Adam with the names and fate of all his posterity; and when the recital arrived at David, to whom God had allotted only thirty years, Adam asked God, “How many years are accorded to me?”

      Allah replied, “One thousand.”

      Then said Adam, “I make a present to David of seventy years out of my life.” God consented; and knowing the shortness of Adam’s memory, at all events in matters concerning himself inconveniently, He made the angels bring a formal document of resignation engrossed on parchment, and required Adam to subscribe thereto his name, and Michael and Gabriel to countersign it as witnesses.

      A very similar tradition was held by the Jews, for in Midrash Jalkut (fol. 12) it is said: God showed Adam all future generations of men, with their captains, learned and literary men. Then he saw that David was provided with only three hours of life, and he said, “Lord and Creator of the world, is this unalterable?” “Such was my first intention,” was the reply.

      “How many years have I to live?”

      “A thousand.”

      “And is there such a thing known in heaven as making presents?”

      “Most certainly.”

      “Then I present seventy years of my life to David.”

      And what did Adam next perform? He drew up a legal document of transfer, and sealed it with his own seal, and God and Metatron did likewise.

      To return to the Mussulman legend.

      When all the posterity of Adam were assembled, God exclaimed to them, “Acknowledge that I am the only God, and that Mohammed is my prophet.” The company on the right eagerly made this acknowledgment; those, however, on the left long hesitated, – some said only the former portion of the sentence, and others did not open their mouths.

      “The disobedient,” said Allah to Adam, “shall, if they remain obstinate, be cast into hell, but the true believers shall be received into Paradise.”

      “So be it,” replied Adam. And thus shall it be at the end of the world.

      After the covenant, Allah rubbed Adam’s back once more, and all his little posterity retreated into it again.

      When now God withdrew His presence from Adam’s sight for the remainder of our first parents’ life, Adam uttered such a loud and bitter cry that the whole earth quaked.

      The All-merciful was filled with compassion, and bade him follow a cloud which would conduct him to a spot where he would be directly opposite His throne, and there he was to build a temple.

      “Go about this temple,” said Allah, “and I am as near to you as the angels who surround my throne.” Adam, who was still the size that God had created him, easily strode from Ceylon to Mecca after the cloud, which stood over the place where he was to build. On Mount Arafa, near Mecca, to his great delight, he found Eve again, and from this circumstance the mountain takes its name (from Arafa, to recognize, to know again). They both began to build, and erected a temple having four doors – one was called Adam’s door, another Abraham’s door, the third Ishmael’s door, and the fourth Mohammed’s door. The plan of the temple was furnished by Gabriel, who also contributed a precious stone, but this stone afterwards, through the sin of men, turned black. This black stone is the most sacred Kaaba, and it was originally an angel, whose duty it had been to guard the Wheat-Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and to warn off Adam should he approach it. But though his inattention the design of God was frustrated, and in punishment he was transformed into a stone, and he will not be released from his transformation till the Last Day.

      Gabriel taught Adam also all the ceremonies of the great pilgrimage.

      Adam now returned with his wife to India, and lived there till he died, but every year he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, till he lost his primitive size, and retained only the height of sixty eels.

      The cause of his diminution in height was his horror and dismay at the murder of Abel, which made him shrink into himself, and he was never afterwards able to stretch himself out again to his pristine dimensions.88

      The Book of the Penitence of Adam is a curious apocryphal work of Syriac origin; I give an outline of its contents.

      God planted, on the third day, the Terrestrial Paradise; it is bounded on the east by the ocean in which, at the Last Day, the elect will wash away all those sins which have not as yet been purged away by repentance.

      On leaving this garden of delights, Adam turned to take of it one last look. He saw that the Tree which had caused his fall was cursed and had withered away.

      He was much surprised when night overtook him, for in Paradise he had not known darkness. As he went along his way, shedding tears, he overtook the serpent gliding over the ground, and licking the dust. That serpent he had last seen on four feet, very beautiful, with the hair of a young maiden, enamelled with brilliant colors. Now it was vile, hideous, and grovelling. The beasts which, before the Fall, had coveted its society, fled from it now with loathing.

      Filled with rage at the sight of Adam and Eve, to whom it attributed its present degradation, the serpent flew at them and prostrated them. Thereupon God removed from it its sole remaining possession – the gift of speech, and it was left only its hiss of rage and shame.

      Adam soon felt exhaustion, heat, fear and pain; – afflictions he had not known in Eden. As the shadows of night fell, an intense horror overwhelmed the guilty pair; they trembled in every limb and cried to God. The Almighty, in compassion, consoled them by announcing to them that day would return after СКАЧАТЬ