Storytelling for Week 3: Eve's Eyes

Eve's Eyes

(God, Adam, and Eve after the fall from the Garden, Source: Wikipedia)

I was born into bright light and lots of noise. There was a figure standing near me, one I had never seen before. I had never seen anyone before. Let alone anything. I felt this weird sense of overwhelming awe at my surroundings and looked down to see that I had hands. I knew not where this knowledge came from, nor could I comprehend any thought that was going through my head. The figure was remaining by my side touched my shoulder and I flinched, for never had I experienced touch.

I looked into the figure's face and felt a feeling of immense affection, love, and gratitude. This was my Adam. I immediately knew his name. He was a tall, dark haired, dark skinned, and dark eyed man. He exhumed empowerment, strength, and a humbleness that could only be granted from God. God. My brain started swirling again. God created me. I knew in that moment that I was of Adam's rib. I was created to support Adam in all his days. He had named every creature on this land with God's guidance. God then spoke to us:

"I have formed both of you from the elements I created. I have great plans for you and all the generations that spring forth from you. You are the parents of the Earth; Father Adam and Mother Eve. Partake from all fruit in this garden, from every tree, but do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. That is my one request."

We praised the Lord and took heed to His one rule. I ate all the fruit I could possibly stuff in my stomach and then more! We lived like this for days. It was wonderful in the beginning, but I grew rather bored of God's sole affection for my husband. I felt like a nothing. God told me He loved me all the time and I never doubted it, but I did not feel worthy of either of their attention. I let the emotions build up for a long while because I did not know what I was to do with them.

One day I just couldn't take it anymore. While Adam was praying by the tree line one morning, I decided I was going to go sit by myself underneath the Tree of Knowledge where Adam wouldn't think to look for me. As I sat and fumed in my anger, I heard a rustling in the shrubs to my left. As I looked into the shrubbery, one of God's creatures, the snake emerged on his two feet. He was a beautiful creature to behold and definitely a face to trust. Which I found out later, was the snake's hope from the beginning. He struck up a conversation with me about why I was alone and comforted me in my frustration. After a while the snake made me a proposition:

"Say, Eve, with all your anger you must feel the need to seek vengeance, no? You must let Adam and God know that you are worthy of their time and that you have a mind of your own, do not let them walk over you any longer. Why don't you pick a fruit of off this here Tree of Knowledge and take a vengeful bite?"

I looked at the trustworthy face of the snake and felt the urge to rebel. A fire of anger grew up inside my chest and before I knew what I was doing, the fruit was in my hand and headed towards my mouth. I took a bite. It was the most delicious fruit I had ever tasted. I looked to my left to find that the snake had disappeared and I ran back to Adam to show him my discovery.

I convinced my husband to taste the wonderful fruit that I had picked, forgetting that it was against God's rule because of the deliciousness. Adam fell in love with the fruit too and all of a sudden we realized that we were NAKED. Oh how embarrassed I was to be standing in the open like this. I couldn't handle it and neither could Adam, so we hid until the booming voice of God's voice entered the garden:

"My children, where do you hide? Why have you disobeyed me and eaten of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge? Emerge now." Adam and I reluctantly came out of our hiding spaces and God spoke again, "You hide because you disobeyed, you both have sinned. This requires punishment. You are banned from the garden for 5,000 years, fated to walk the land outside and work to live. All of your generations will work as well, and you Eve, child bearing will be difficult. The snake fooled you, and in his treachery I have sentenced him and his generations to slither on his belly for eternity."

(Adam and Eve after the eating of the forbidden fruit, Source: Wikipedia)

At these words, we fell to the ground in grief and a deep sleep came over us. When we woke up, we were in a strange place and the darkness was overwhelming. Adam grieved inconsolably for days; pulling himself to death multiple times, only to have God revitalize him. 

I messed up. I knew that. My husband's agony was my doing. I was so angry with the snake for fooling me, but I was angry with myself for falling for it also. I was determined to get us through this. I comforted Adam as best I could and took care of him in all ways that I could think.

We eventually grew used to the land and learned to work with it. Adam continued to love me even though I made the mistake that ruined our paradise. We were happy. Happy as we could be in this forsaken land. God had mercy on us a lot and saved us from many early fates. He wasn't kidding when he said child bearing was going to be painful, sheesh! I had a time with Cain and Able. God is truly the provider though; He loves us and always will.

Author's Note: This story was based off of Adam and Eve from the Un-Textbook. I wanted to shed some light on the creation story from the eyes of Eve. We don't ever get to hear a woman's side of the story, let alone a woman from the Bible, so I thought this would give a nice change of pace! Eve gets blamed a lot for her mistake of eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, but that snake had a heavy hand in convincing her! It wasn't just her fault.

Bibliography: King James Bible (1611) Genesis.