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down so that I should die. I should not dare to sleep if there were no reason why you should not make me die. Adam Scrambling up in horror. Make you die!!! What a frightful thought! The Serpent Kill, kill, kill, kill. That is the word. Eve The new Adams and Eves might kill us. I shall not make them. She sits on the rock and pulls him down beside her, clasping him to her with her right arm. The Serpent You must. For if you do not there will be an end. Adam No: they will not kill us: they will feel as I do. There is something against it. The Voice in the garden will tell them that they must not kill, as it tells me. The Serpent The voice in the garden is your own voice. Adam It is; and it is not. It is something greater than me: I am only a part of it. Eve The Voice does not tell me not to kill you. Yet I do not want you to die before me. No voice is needed to make me feel that. Adam Throwing his arm round her shoulder with an expression of anguish. Oh no: that is plain without any voice. There is something that holds us together, something that has no word⁠— The Serpent Love. Love. Love. Adam That is too short a word for so long a thing. The Serpent Laughs. !!! Eve Turning impatiently to the snake. That heart-biting sound again! Do not do it. Why do you do it? The Serpent Love may be too long a word for so short a thing soon. But when it is short it will be very sweet. Adam Ruminating. You puzzle me. My old trouble was heavy; but it was simple. These wonders that you promise to do may tangle up my being before they bring me the gift of death. I was troubled with the burden of eternal being; but I was not confused in my mind. If I did not know that I loved Eve, at least I did not know that she might cease to love me, and come to love some other Adam and desire my death. Can you find a name for that knowledge? The Serpent Jealousy. Jealousy. Jealousy. Adam A hideous word. Eve Shaking him. Adam: you must not brood. You think too much. Adam Angrily. How can I help brooding when the future has become uncertain? Anything is better than uncertainty. Life has become uncertain. Love is uncertain. Have you a word for this new misery? The Serpent Fear. Fear. Fear. Adam Have you a remedy for it? The Serpent Yes. Hope. Hope. Hope. Adam What is hope? The Serpent As long as you do not know the future you do not know that it will not be happier than the past. That is hope. Adam It does not console me. Fear is stronger in me than hope. I must have certainty. He rises threateningly. Give it to me; or I will kill you when next I catch you asleep. Eve Throwing her arms round the serpent. My beautiful snake. Oh no. How can you even think such a horror? Adam Fear will drive me to anything. The serpent gave me fear. Let it now give me certainty or go in fear of me. The Serpent Bind the future by your will. Make a vow. Adam What is a vow? The Serpent Choose a day for your death; and resolve to die on that day. Then death is no longer uncertain but certain. Let Eve vow to love you until your death. Then love will be no longer uncertain. Adam Yes: that is splendid: that will bind the future. Eve Displeased, turning away from the serpent. But it will destroy hope. Adam Angrily. Be silent, woman. Hope is wicked. Happiness is wicked. Certainty is blessed. The Serpent What is wicked? You have invented a word. Adam Whatever I fear to do is wicked. Listen to me, Eve; and you, snake, listen too, that your memory may hold my vow. I will live a thousand sets of the four seasons⁠— The Serpent Years. Years. Adam I will live a thousand years; and then I will endure no more: I will die and take my rest. And I will love Eve all that time and no other woman. Eve And if Adam keeps his vow I will love no other man until he dies. The Serpent You have both invented marriage. And what he will be to you and not to any other woman is husband; and what you will be to him and not to any other man is wife. Adam Instinctively moving his hand towards her. Husband and wife. Eve Slipping her hand into his. Wife and husband. The Serpent Laughs. !!! Eve Snatching herself loose from Adam. Do not make that odious noise, I tell you. Adam Do not listen to her: the noise is good: it lightens my heart. You are a jolly snake. But you have not made a vow yet. What vow do you make? The Serpent I make no vows. I take my chance. Adam Chance? What does that mean? The Serpent It means that I fear certainty as you fear uncertainty. It means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation. Eve Creation must not be strangled. I tell you I will create, though I tear myself to pieces in the act. Adam Be silent, both of you. I will bind the future. I will be delivered from fear. To Eve. We have made our vows; and if you must create, you shall create within the bounds of those vows. You shall not listen to that snake any more. Come. He seizes her by the hair to drag her away. Eve Let me go, you fool. It has not yet told me the secret. Adam Releasing her. That is true. What is a fool? Eve I do not know: the word came to me. It is what you are when you