Eve's Various Children

When Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise, they had to build a house for themselves on barren ground and earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Adam dug the land, and Eve spun wool. Every year Eve had a child, but the children were not alike. Some were pretty, and some were ugly.

After a long time, God sent an angel to tell them that He Himself would come to visit their home. Eve was overjoyed that the Lord would be so kind. She cleaned her house carefully, decorated it with flowers, and spread rushes on the floor.

Then she brought in her children, but only the beautiful ones. She washed and bathed them, combed their hair, put clean clothes on them, and told them to behave nicely and modestly in front of the Lord. They were to bow politely, hold out their hands, and answer His questions sensibly.

The ugly children, however, were not to be seen. One hid under the hay, another under the roof, a third in the straw, the fourth in the stove, the fifth in the cellar, the sixth under a tub, the seventh under the wine barrel, the eighth under an old fur coat, the ninth and tenth under the cloth she used for their clothes, and the eleventh and twelfth under the leather she used for their shoes.

She had barely finished when there was a knock at the door. Adam peeped through a crack and saw that it was the Lord. He opened the door respectfully, and the Heavenly Father entered. There stood the pretty children in a row, bowing before Him, holding out their hands, and kneeling down.

The Lord began to bless them. He laid His hands on the first and said, "You shall be a mighty king." To the second, "You a prince." To the third, "You a count." To the fourth, "You a knight." To the fifth, "You a nobleman." To the sixth, "You a burgher." To the seventh, "You a merchant." To the eighth, "You a learned man." And He gave them all His richest blessings.

When Eve saw how gentle and kind the Lord was, she thought, "I will bring my ugly children too. Perhaps He will bless them as well." So she ran and brought them out of the hay, the straw, the stove, and everywhere else she had hidden them.

Then the whole dirty, ragged, sooty bunch came forward. The Lord smiled, looked at them all, and said, "I will bless these too." He laid His hands on the first and said, "You shall be a peasant." To the second, "You a fisherman." To the third, "You a blacksmith." To the fourth, "You a tanner." To the fifth, "You a weaver." To the sixth, "You a shoemaker." To the seventh, "You a tailor." To the eighth, "You a potter." To the ninth, "You a wagoner." To the tenth, "You a sailor." To the eleventh, "You an errand boy." To the twelfth, "You a kitchen boy all your life."

When Eve heard all this, she said, "Lord, You give Your gifts so unevenly! After all, they are all my children, whom I have brought into the world. Your favors should be given to all alike." But God answered, "Eve, you do not understand.

It is right and necessary that the whole world should be supplied from your children. If they were all princes and lords, who would grow grain, thresh it, grind it, and bake it? Who would be blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters, masons, laborers, tailors, and seamstresses?

Each shall have his own place, so that one supports the other, and all shall be fed like the limbs of one body." Then Eve answered, "Ah, Lord, forgive me. I spoke too quickly. Let Your divine will be done with my children."