"Nay, thou must think How he had dwelt long, God's loved husbandman, And looked in hope among the tribes for one To be his fellow, ere great Isha, once Waking, he found at his left side, and knew The deep delight of speech." So Noah, and thus Added, "And therefore was his loss the more; For though the creatures he had singled out His favorites, dared for him the fiery sword And followed after him,--shall bleat of lamb Console one for the foregone talk of God? Or in the afternoon, his faithful dog, Fawning upon him, make his heart forget At such a time, and such a time, to have heard What he shall hear no more? "O, as for him, It was for this that he full oft would stop, And, lost in thought, stand and revolve that deed, Sad muttering, Woman! we reproach thee not; Though thou didst eat mine immortality; Earth, be not sorry; I was free to choose. Wonder not, therefore, if he walked forlorn. Was not the helpmeet given to raise him up From his contentment with the lower things? Was she not somewhat that he could not rule Beyond the action, that he could not have By the mere holding, and that still aspired And drew him after her? So, when deceived She fell by great desire to rise, he fell By loss of upward drawing, when she took An evil tongue to be her counsellor: 'Death is not as the death of lower things, Rather a glorious change, begrudged of Heaven, A change to being as gods,'--he from her hand, Upon reflection, took of death that hour, And ate it (not the death that she had dared); He ate it knowing. Then divisions came. She, like a spirit strayed who lost the way, Too venturesome, among the farther stars, And hardly cares, because it hardly hopes To find the path to heaven; in bitter wise Did bear to him degenerate seed, and he, Once having felt her upward drawing, longed, And yet aspired, and yearned to be restored, Albeit she drew no more." "Sir, ye speak well," Niloiya saith, "but yet the mother sits Higher than Adam. He did understand Discourse of birds and all four-footed things, But she had knowledge of the many tribes Of angels and their tongues; their playful ways And greetings when they met. Was she not wise? They say she knew much that she never told, And had a voice that called to her as thou."