in her
hair and with a girdle about her loins.) Now, Mother Eve, it was you who
seduced our father. You are the accused: what have you to say in your
defence?

EVE (simply and with dignity). The serpent tempted me!

TEMPTER. Well answered! Eve has proved her innocence. The serpent! Let
the serpent come forward. (EVE disappears.) The serpent! (The serpent
appears in the tree trunk.) Here you can see the seducer of us all. Now,
serpent, who was it that beguiled you?

ALL (terrified). Silence! Blasphemer!

TEMPTER. Answer, serpent! (Lightning and a clap of thunder; all flee,
except the TEMPTER, who has fallen to the ground, and the PILGRIM, the
STRANGER and the LADY. The TEMPTER begins to recover; he then gets up
and sits down in an attitude that recalls the classical statue 'The
Polisher,' or 'The Slave.') Causa finalis, or the first cause--you can't
discover that! For if the serpent's to blame, then we're comparatively
innocent--but mankind mustn't be told that! The Accused, however, seems
to have got out of this business! And the Court of justice has dissolved
like smoke! Judge not. Judge not, O Judges!

LADY (to the STRANGER). Come with me.

STRANGER. But I'd like to listen to this man.

LADY. Why? He's like a small child, putting all those questions that
can't be answered. You know how little children ask about everything.
'Papa, why does the sun rise in the east?' You know the answer?

STRANGER. Hm!

LADY. Or: 'Mama, who made God?' You think that profound? Well, come with
me.

STRANGER (fighting his admiration for the TEMPTER). But that about Eve
was new....

LADY. Not at all. I learnt it in my Bible history, when I was eight. And
that we inherit the debts of our fathers is part of the law of the land.
Come, my son.

TEMPTER (rising, shaking his limbs and climbing up the rocky wall to the
right with a limp). Come, I'll show you the world you think you know,
but don't.

LADY (climbing up the rocky wall to the left). Come with me, my son, and
I'll show you God's beautiful world, as I've come to see it, since the
tears of sorrow washed the dust from my eyes. Come with me!

(The STRANGER stands irresolute between them.)

TEMPTER (to the LADY). And how have you seen the world through your
tears? Like meadow banks reflected in troubled water! A chaos of curved
lines in which the trees seemed to be standing on their heads. (To
the STRANGER.) No, my son, with my field-glasses, dried in the fire of
hate--