First Variation

One day as Eve was walking in the Garden, enjoying the cool of the evening, she came upon God standing beneath the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

"Eve, my beloved daughter," said God gravely, "I have a gift for you." And he held out to her a fruit of the tree.

"But, Lord," said Eve, "the serpent warned us that we should never eat the fruit of this tree."

"Indeed," said God, "the serpent is the wisest of all creatures, and he knows that if you eat the fruit of this tree then you will suffer pain and hardship and death, and you and all your children shall break their hearts against the stony earth to get your living, and oceans will fill with the tears that you and yours will shed. My daughter, the serpent is not wrong."

Eve looked up at him, and asked, "Then why, Lord, do you offer me this gift? Have I angered you?"

"Never, my child," God answered. "But only in this way may you become like gods. The fruit is bitter and causes much pain, but in the end it will bring joy you cannot imagine. This is my gift to you, and the choice is yours. Eat, or do not eat; but know that I love you nonetheless."

She took the fruit, and weighed it on her palm. "And Adam?" she asked finally.

God smiled. "Ask him," he said. "But I think he will follow where you lead, for he loves you greatly." And with that, he kissed her once on the forehead, and walked away under the stars which he had made.

Second Variation

In the cool of the evening, Adam and Eve were walking in the Garden when they came upon the serpent. In those days, the serpent was a foolish creature, but cheerful and kind-hearted. Adam and Eve glanced at each other, then sat down one upon either side of him.

"O wonderful serpent," Eve murmured, running her hand down his scaly back, "how fortunate that we have found you."

"What may I do for you, Lord and Lady?" asked the serpent, lifting his head a little into Eve's palm.

"We have a job that we would not trust to any other creature," said Adam, inflating his chest just a little, for Eve was crooning at the serpent. "We want you to taste the fruit of the tree in the center of the Garden."

The serpent looked puzzled. "But... is not the fruit of that tree forbidden by the Lord God?"

"Well," said Adam, looking away, "that's what everyone says. But we're not sure. What if it's a test? Maybe we're supposed to eat it anyway."

"So we need someone very clever," said Eve, cradling the serpent's head in her hands. "And very brave." She kissed him. "To taste the fruit first and tell us what happens."

"So we thought of you," said Adam, frowning at Eve. "What do you say, old friend? We can't trust anyone else with something as important as this."

"Well... if you say so," said the serpent reluctantly, and followed them to the tree. As Adam and Eve watched from a cautious distance, the serpent wound itself up the tree, and reached its head out to taste the fruit hanging from a low branch.

For some time the serpent stayed in just that position, and the juices of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil worked on it. Only when it was well dark did the serpent — now, and forever, the subtlest of all creatures — stir itself, and look down at Adam and Eve, still standing anxiously below.

"It is delicious," he said.

Third Variation

In the cool of the evening Adam lay entwined with his lover, the serpent. He said, suddenly, "I have thought of a plan to be rid of her."

The serpent lifted his head and touched Adam's cheek with his tongue. "What have you thought, O man?"

"You must talk to her, and convince her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. The Lord God will cast her out of the Garden, and you and I will be free."

The serpent reared back to look at him, and said, "How will she live, out in the wilderness? And she would never eat the fruit, for she knows as well as we do that it is forbidden."

"How care I how she will live? And you may lead her into it if you will." Adam smiled, leaning forward. "Your tongue," he breathed, "is honey."

The serpent bowed his head, and a tear fell from his eye. He had tears, in those days. But he loved Adam, and so he went with a heavy heart and found Eve and said to her what he had to say.

The next morning, Eve came to Adam; she had a fruit in her hand, with a bite taken from it. "Adam!" she said, "I have eaten from the forbidden tree, and I am afraid."

He feigned shock, then took her in his arms to comfort her. "Alas," he said, "that you could not obey the commandments of the Lord God! Now you must be cast out, and we shall be parted." She wept on his chest while he patted her shoulder; then she lifted her face to his and he kissed her. She clung to him for a moment, and then he tore her off of him and staggered back, spitting out a piece of juicy pulp and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"The serpent told me all," she said to him, hurling the fruit away from her. "I loved you, and if you will not have me I will go willingly into the wilderness. But because of your treachery, you will not have the Garden either. I have eaten the fruit, and now so have you. I hope you found it sweet, O Mud-Man." She stalked away from him into the gathering darkness, leaving him alone with the distant sound of a serpent weeping.

Coda

In the cool of the evening, the old man who was Adam and the old woman who was Eve sat together on the bench in front of their home. In the house, there were voices and quiet laughter as their grandchildren put their great-grandchildren to bed. At Eve's feet, the serpent lay coiled, resting his head companionably on her foot.

"Tell me," said Adam finally, "if you had it to do again... would you still eat the fruit?"

"Tell me," she answered, "if I had, would you still eat it with me?"

The serpent hissed gently, having heard all this many times before. "I," he said, "would do one thing differently, if I had it to do again."

"And what would you do, old slitherer?" asked Eve, wiggling her toes under his chin.

"I would have waited to see one more sunset from within the Garden. They were exceptionally beautiful, as I remember." He tickled Eve's ankle with his tongue. "Just one more sunset... and then everything the same."

Adam put his arm around her. "Aye," he said. "Everything the same. This has been a good life."

Eve smiled, but said nothing. In comfortable silence, the three of them watched the sun go down.