Week 6 Story: Kill the King

Kill the King

by Connor Dugan

One day, the king of a town was observing his people.  He dressed in a disguise so nobody would recognize him and came upon a psychic.  The psychic told the king, not knowing who he was, he could tell him his future.  The king agreed, but told him that he had no money, so he gave him his necklace that was priceless.  The king told him that he would come back later to give him the actual cost of the psychic session and retrieve the necklace he held as collateral.  The psychic then told him that he would die within 9 days.

Appalled, the king retreated to his home and demanded to see a servant.  The king was in denial and believed the psychic was not really able to tell the future.  He was going to put him to the test.  The king told the servant to go to the psychic with the intent to steal the necklace and see if the psychic is able to tell the future of the necklace being stolen.  If the servant failed, his head would be cut off, but if he succeeded the psychic's head would be cut off for lying about being able to tell the future.  The next day, the servant approached the psychic and asked to tell him his fortune.  The psychic took a long pause and told him that he would kill a man within 8 days.  The servant, not realizing what this meant, proceeded to think all of it was false and stole the necklace from him.

The king was pleased at the retrieval of the necklace, and the next day went to the psychic to claim his property.  The psychic told the king that he couldn't find the necklace, and outraged, the king told the psychic that he had one week to foretell where the necklace is or his head would be taken.  The psychic obliged, and for 6 days he meditated and prayed.

The 7th day came and the king held a ceremony, inviting the whole town to see the psychic be proven as phony.  The psychic approached the king on the stage in front of the massive crowd.

Large Crowd sourced via Flickr

The king screamed, "Psychic!  You speak to the world that you have powers beyond this world, yet can't find the necklace I gave you when your life depends on it!?  What say you to this ridiculousness?"

The psychic replied, "Liar."

Outraged, the king grabbed the psychic and pulled him in, ready to slug him in the face.  "What did you say to me you low life phony?"

The psychic screamed to the crowd, "This man is not the powerful one you see.  He is a fake, and I can prove it.  I make a bet that if I can prove that you cheated me that your head might replace mine's fate."

The king laughed hysterically.  "Oh really?  Alright then you have a deal!  You prove me a cheat and I you may have my head.  But since you dared to accuse me of such ridiculous claims, when you are wrong I will have your whole family slaughtered!

The psychic looked at the crowd and announced "The necklace was stolen!  It is in the left shoe of the king's servant!"

The king let out another burst of laughter.  "You really think I would be so sloppy as to do that even if I did try to cheat you?  Why that necklace would be countries away from here if I did that.  Servant, show them he lies!"

The servant was ghost white.  He looked at the king with eyes of despair.  "Sir... I don't think I want to do that... My foot will get cold.."

"Nonsense!" said the king.  "Take the shoe off! That is an order!"

"But sir.."

The king finally realized what was going on.  "Oh.. I see."  he turned to the crowd and announced "This is ridiculous.  Why must my servant obey the commands to a liar?  Must we really do this?"

The crowd screamed "Have him take his shoe off so we might slaughter him and his family!"

The king, sweating bullets, approached the servant.  "Take it off."

The servant took his right shoe and turns it over.

"See!? he lies!!"

"Take off your left shoe like he asked!" the crowd screamed.

When he does this, the necklace falls out.

"TRAITORS!"  screamed the crowd.

In tears, the servant told the crowd "The king told me he would have my head if I didn't steal the necklace!  Let him pay for the crimes, not the psychic for he has proven his worth!"

The crowd restrained the king, put him on the chopping block, and the servant cut off the head of the king.  The town rejoiced, and the psychic's prophesies were all fulfilled.

The end.

Author's Note
In the original story, a king goes to a bakery, sees the owner is praying, and decides he wanted to test to see how loyal the owner is to god.  He dresses in a disguise and gives the owner a ring for some bread as collateral.  The king asks a servant to get the ring from him, he succeeds, gives the ring to the king, and the king tells the baker if he doesn't find the ring he will kill him.  The king drops the ring in a river, a fish eats it, the baker owner buys the fish and finds the ring, and everyone lives happily ever after.  I didn't like how manipulative the king was in this story, so I did it in a different setting, changed the plot a bit, and made him die!

Bibliography:

The Praying Baker translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer

Week 6 Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part B

The Praying Baker

A king dresses up as a beggar and approaches a bakery.  He sees the owner praying to god and decides that he is going to test his commitment to his prayers.  If he fails the test he will be put to death and if he succeeds he will be given honor.  He then gives the man his ring that is worth a bunch of money as collateral for some bread and commands a Wizar to try to get the man to give the ring away.  He tells the Wizar that if he succeeds he will be given a reward but if not his head will be cut off.  The Wizar's messengers go to the bakery to test their scale they use for flour, and while they are distracted they steal the ring and it is given back to the king.  The king calls in the baker and tells him to give back the ring but when he can't return it the king tells him he has 10 days to get the ring back.  The king then drinks from a river, the ring falls off, a fish eats it, and a fisher gets the fish and starts to try to sell it.  The baker buys the fish not knowing of the ring being in the stomach, finds it, gives it to the king, and everyone rejoices.

Ring sourced via Wikipedia

I really liked this story!  I like the twists and turns it makes.  The part that I didn't like, however, was the sadistic mind of the king doing everything in the story.  If I redid this, I would make it so that the king ends up getting his head cut off and I would challenge myself to make a similar sequence of events with entirely different context.

Bibliography

The Praying Baker translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer

Week 6 Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part A

The Wolf and the Goat

A mother goat with four children tells the children that she is going out to get grass.  She tells them that when someone knocks at the door and says they are their mother, to look at the hand of the person and if it is black it is the wolf whereas if it is red it is the mother.  The wolf hears the conversation, paints his hand red, and takes three of the children.  The mom finds out, goes to the wolf's house.  She challenges him to a fight and before hand they go to the dentist and have their teeth/horns sharpened.  The goat brings a good gift and gets them sharpened but the wolf tries to rip the dentist off so he pulls all the wolf's teeth out and replaces it with fakes.  The goat challenges him to drink a bunch of water and jump across a river, and when the wolf does the goat pierces his stomach and kills him.  She gets her kids back and live happily ever after.

Wolf sourced via Pixabay

I thought this story was strange because nothing ever comes of the wolf getting his teeth replaced with fakes.  The story would be much better if it ended with him trying to bite the goat but it doesn't do anything.  I would certainly change that in my story I write and I would also make the being human instead of animals.



Bibliography

The Wolf and the Goat: translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer

Week 5 Reading Diary: Dante's Inferno Part A

Dante's Inferno Part A

Dante gets lost in the woods and comes across dangerous animals.  Dante meets Virgil who he begs to save him from the animals.  Virgil tells him to come with him on a journey through hell so he may see those who have not reached the glory of God and he obeys.  First he is shown the spirits that were turned away from heaven but not allowed entrance to hell.  The next is Limbo, where spirits that were good but not baptized stay.  Next, poets, celebrities, heroes, and heroines.    So far these spirits don't really get tortured and more just regret that they don't see glories of heaven.  He is then shown Minos, who condemns the sinners for their sins to the proper place in hell which they belong and the level for carnal sinners.  The next is for gluttony where Cerberus, a great worm, resides and tortures the souls of the level.  The next is for greed and this level is more populated than the others.  The next is for the wrathful, and lastly we have the heretics.

This was a lot to take in.  Dante's inferno is a challenging read and there is a vast amount of information.  I think it will be really cool to condense it and spice it up for the modern reader.

Levels of hell sourced via Wikipedia

Bibliography

Dante's Inferno translated by Tony Kline

Week 5 Story: What is Fear?

What is Fear?

A young boy named Todd was playing with his action figures on a peaceful Sunday morning in the kitchen next to his mother.  He loved playing with his toys and began to have a battle between a dragon and soldier.  They fought a fearsome battle on the kitchen table, leaped onto the toaster where the soldier almost fell in, raced across the counter and were headed for the stove.

Todd's mother screamed "STOP!"  As his hand got dangerously close to a pot of boiling water.  She yanked the boy away from the stove and looked at his sternly

"What were you thinking Todd!?  You scared me so much you could have seriously gotten hurt!  Don't ever do that to me again!"

"I'm sorry mom.. but you said I scared you?  What do you mean?"

"It comes from Fear, Todd.  It is a feeling you get when something scares you."

Todd grew in excitement.  "I wanna feel fear!!  I'm gonna go find it mom you just wait and maybe I'll understand you better!"

And before his mother could continue her lecture he burst outside.  She ran after him on his way out and screamed "Todd I swear if you get in trouble or hurt you will have NO CONFUSION as to what fear is!"

Todd ran off to the woods next to his neighborhood playground.  A group of his enemies from school were hanging around there and called him over.

"Well look what the cat dragged in boys!  Todd, come over here buddy!  We decided you can be in our group if you do our challenge!"

Todd raced over.  Although he didn't like them, he knew being in their group would make him much cooler in school.  He asked them what the challenge was.

"You see that dog house over there?  Well, our ball went directly into it and there is a big scary pit bull that lives there.  If you can get it back for us you're in." One of them said with a devious grin.

"Okay!"  Todd said, as he casually jogged over to the house.

He got to the house and walked right up to the house with zero hesitation.  He glanced inside to see the pit bull sleeping, curled around the ball the boys set him out to retrieve.  As he reached for the ball, the pit bull's eyes shot wide open and he started to growl intensely, showing his big strong teeth.  The boy smiled at the dog, pet him on the head, and the pit bull calmed down significantly and let the boy have the ball.

Todd came back to the group of boys and their jaws hit the floor.  "Did he not try to rip your arm off?"  The boys asked.  "No, he was really nice once you pet him!" Todd replied.  "Were you not scared that whole time!?" They asked.  "There's that word again!"  Todd said, "What is up with people and being 'scared'?  I don't get the point of it what is it anyways?"

The leader of the group, Carson, approached Todd.  "Okay Toddy boy, listen up.  That task was too easy.  You don't get in the group unless I say so.  The only way you are getting in this group is if you do the ultimate challenge, my challenge... Steal a fidget spinner."

Trouble sourced via Pixabay

"PSHHH piece of cake!  Except my mom always told me to not steal anything.."

"Well what is more important?  Being in our group or being a little mama's boy?"

"Alright, alright i'll do it."

Todd walked up to the store.  "Surely this is how I will find fear." He thought to himself.  He entered the store and the clerk was busy stocking shelves.  The fidget spinners were behind the counter by the cigarettes.  Todd crawled behind the counter and slowly reached up to get the spinner.. After wiggling it around from its hanger, he set it free. "GOT IT!" he whispered to himself.  He turned to go out the door, but realized something.  He still wasn't scared.  He sat and contemplated.. What could possibly make him find fear?  After all, that is what this whole journey was about.  He then got an idea.. "Maybe if I get a pack of cigarettes too i'll find fear and be extra cool!" he thought.  And without a second thought he reached up for a pack and got his hand snagged by the clerk.

"GOTCHYA!!" The clerk exclaimed.

He was caught. He looked out the window of the store to see the group of boys mocking him and sticking their tongues out.

The police arrived, gave Todd a lecture, and proceeded to load him up in the back of the car and drive him to his parent's house.  "Young man, you are starting to walk down a dark road full of pain and suffering.  What will your mom say when we tell her what you did?"

That's when the world came crashing down on Todd "NO you guys please don't tell my mom she will kill me!"

"Sorry bud, but you aren't getting out of this one.  I don't care how scared you are of your punishment, you are going to get what you deserve from this I hope you learned your lesson!"

Todd's face looked shocked.. He gave a second to think of what just happened and realized.. He was scared.  His legs trembled, his eyes were wide, his heart beat faster, his palms were sweaty.  It wasn't a good thing at all.  He found fear.  And he didn't want to find it ever again.

When he got to his mother, he ran up to her in tears, bawled his eyes out at her waist, and told her how sorry he was and that he now realized what she meant.

While he got some serious punishment for stealing, he had learned his lesson and promised himself to never do something that would make him feel that terrible sense of fear and sadness ever again.

The end.

Author's Note:

In the original story, a young boy's mother tells him she is scared and he sets out to find out what fear is.  He comes across all sorts of things that should scare him but he seems relatively fearless. After many adventures, he ends up being told to open up a soup dish and a bird flies out of it which surprises him.  He discovers what fear is from this and lives happily ever after.  This story was ridiculous and really weird, so I decided to redo it and I made it much better.  Mine is much easier to follow and is certainly something that modern day children could relate with much easier.  It is easier to follow and just makes a lot more sense as a story.

Bibliography

Fear by Ignacz Kunos

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales Part B

The Soothsayer

The story begins with a man who is a worker in the fields of industry and his wife who is about to take a bath.  The wife and another woman who were about to take the bath see a crowd of people excited for the chief soothsayer's wife coming to their establishment.  The wife of the man, jealous of the soothsayer's wife, tells her husband he must become a soothsayer of she will leave him.  He doesn't want to lose her, gets advice from a friend to talk to a woman who also takes baths, and she devises a plan where he dresses up as a hodja ( a person who can find lost items ).  They wait by the bath, and when the soothsayer's wife comes by, the lady steals her ring secretly, hides it, and tells the man of its location.  When the wife panics that it is lost, he amazes her and the crowd by seeming to magically know exactly where it is and he is seen as a soothsayer by everyone.  However, the wife loses it again and her husband calls in the fake hodja and tells him he has until tomorrow morning to know where it is or his head will be cut off.  It turns out that a servant stole the ring and she sneaks in to tell the fake hodja that she stole it and he tells her to make a goose swallow it and break his neck.  The next day, the fake hodja amazes everyone that he knows exactly where it is, and he is promoted and becomes successful.

I chose this story because while it was good, I would like to change the ending.  I would redo the story in a very similar fashion and in the same time period but change the setting.  The man will instead get himself into trouble that he is not able to get out of when he has the jewel/ring be hidden in a bucket of flower in a storage room, but in morning a new shipment of flower comes in and he has no idea and gets killed.  It would serve as a purpose of teaching not to lie or you will end up in a situation you can't get out of.

Biggest Liar Sign sourced via Flickr

Bibliography

The Soothsayer by Ignacz Kunos

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales Part A

Fear

A young boy is with his mom who has fear, likely that someone might break in.  The child asks what fear is, but her explanation of it doesn't suffice so he sets out on a journey to find it.  He comes across robbers, the living dead, abusive maids, and a Daughter of the Sea but nothing seems to scare him.  Along, the way, the abusive maid drops a bracelet, he picks it up, and a Jew tries to claim it.  He takes it to court but neither can prove possession over it.  He finds three transforming pigeons/maids that talk about how they are impressed with his lack of fear and how they were the manifestations of all the bad things he had encountered so far and give him a second bracelet which he uses to win over the first bracelet from the judge.  The town's king dies and a crowd of people tell the boy that when a pigeon is released, whoever's head it lands on they will be pronounced the new king.  The pigeon lands on the boy's head, but he doesn't accept.  They release a second pigeon and it also lands on his head but he once again rejects the throne, saying he not looks to be a king but find fear.  The same thing happens a third time and while he resists, the widow of the king says he is the new king and tells him whoever is king one day will be the next a corpse.  They make a casket for the boy, he sleeps in it, then burns it when he wakes up.  The king's corpse is carried by slaves but it turns out he is not actually dead and to celebrate a live sparrow is put in the soup dish for supper.  The boy is commanded to lift the dish of the soup, the sparrow flies out, he is shocked, the former widow tells him he experienced fear, and they live happily ever after.

I have to admit, this story was awful.  Usually you are supposed to choose a story that you liked, but I chose this because I wanted to clean it up a lot.  I think I will take this story, have it be in modern times, and have the kid not be scared by anything except the fury of his mother when he disobeys her and the moral of the story will be to not disrespect your mom because if there is one thing in this world that is to be feared it is a mother's fury.

Mom Power sourced via Pixabay

Bibliography

Fear by Ignacz Kunos

Tech Tip: Announcements Email

I have been subscribed to the announcements emails since the beginning of the class and I love it.  It really helps remind me to do my assignments because I am the type that gets swamped in work and can forget to do assignments like the ones for this class!

Tech Tip: Canvas Mobile App

I love the Canvas Mobile App!  I have had it for a while and it is really easy to use, I just wish there was a way to view the class averages in the app.  There are some limitations using the mobile version, but it has everything essential on there and if I absolutely have to I can just go to the website on safari.

Comment Wall

Please share any thoughts/suggestions you have about my Storybook!

I would love to hear from you!  :)

And once again, Welcome To Hell!

https://sites.google.com/view/welcometohell/home

Hell-Fractal sourced via PublicDomainPictures

Week 4 Story: Man's Best Friend

Man's Best Friend

By Connor Dugan

Long before written history, dogs were not the cute and fuzzy animals they are today.  They were ferocious, powerful, and cold blooded killers.  They practically ruled the earth with their incredible coordination and hunting skills.  Man could all but cower in fear if one approached.

A man named Joseph walked through a deep and dark rocky forest, looking for mushrooms for stew.  It was ominous, foggy, and incredibly humid.  Sweat dripped down his whole body as he searched the ground for precious fungi.  This lasted some hours, until he heard a horribly cry.  Joseph knew it would be incredibly dangerous to investigate, but he couldn't help himself.  He climbed over the hills, tracked down where it was coming from, and gazed upon Doggious, the god of the Dogs.

Doggious had been hunting in the woods.  In fact, he was on to Joseph's scent and was about to make him a meal.  This all came to a halt when a large boulder came crashing down a near rocky hillside and landed upon his leg.  He was now trapped.  The more he tried to move, the more he ended up just hurting himself.  He laid there in defeat, waiting to be killed or to simply rot away.

Joseph cautiously came nearer to Doggious.  He had heard the legends of Doggious of how intimidating, strong, and deadly he was.  There were rumors that if Doggious were killed, that all dogs would lose their coordination and would no longer be able to rule the world.  Joseph felt for his large spear he always carried on him, and was ready to put an end to the rule dogs had over the land.  But something came upon him.  As he saw the beast yelping and crying, a sudden rush of empathy came upon him.  He got a crazy idea, even crazier than approaching the beast in the first place.

Doggious stared at Joseph as he came eye to eye with the beast.  Joseph nodded at Doggious, and raised his spear, ready to strike.  Doggious closed his eyes, accepting his fate.  But, as Joseph's spear came down, it came not upon Doggious' heart, but was wedged under the boulder, where he proceeded to pry the boulder off Doggious' leg.

Doggious immediately pounced upon Joseph, and Joseph held his breath as if it were his last.  And as Doggious opened his mouth to bite, he instead licked Joseph's face of his sweat.  Doggious thanked Joseph, and explained to him that because of his show of character and empathy, all dogs would serve as noble friends to the human race.  They could hunt, live, and progress together much better than on their own.  And what started as a horrible war became a lasting friendship that exponentially benefited both parties.

And that is how dogs became man's best friend.

Guarding with Man's Best Friend sourced via Wikipedia

Author's Note:

The original story, The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog, was about how cats and dogs became enemies.  It begins explaining that the Cat and Dog were great friends.  They got along very well and were the greatest of companions.  But when winter game and food was scarce, they made an agreement to go their separate ways, but the dog accidentally breaks the agreement and the cat never forgives him.
I wanted to do an opposite of this story, explaining how a feud becomes friendship.  I thought the perfect example for this would be the relationship between man and dog.

Bibliography:

The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog by Gertrude Landa

Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales Part B

I will focus my notes on the story of The Sleep of One Hundred Years.

Rabbi Onias, a man thirsting and starving to death, travels to Jerusalem, a city that has been burnt to the ground.  Everything is desolate and gloomy.  He has food and water, but refuses to drink them in case he meets someone more in need than he.  On his way, he sees a farmer planting crops.  He comes upon the city, and breaks down crying because of the horror of the destruction.  He then sleeps, but doesn't wake for 100 years.  He wakes, and rejoices that the city is strong again.  The crops that the farmer planted were everywhere, the camel he had was a skeleton.  He goes to the city and asks where the house of Onias is.  They tell him that someone's grandfather was named Onias, and surely enough, Onias meets his grandson.  Everyone is alien in their ways, speech, and knowledge, and he feels he doesn't belong and goes back to sleep.

I would like to change this story to a modern version where a young man in Africa hears about the amazing and great country called America.  He goes through great lengths to go there, and finally makes it by climbing on a boat that happens to be headed in that direction.  He ends up in New York City, rejoices, but quickly realizes that he doesn't really fit in.  He realizes that he was much happier with the lifestyle he already had.

Busy New York Street sourced via Pexels

Bibliography:

Jewish Fairy Tales: The Sleep of One Hundred Years By Gertrude Landa

Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales Part A

I chose to read from the Jewish Fairy Tales.
I will be focusing on The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog.

The story begins explaining that the Cat and Dog were great friends.  They got along very well and were the greatest of companions.  But when winter game and food was scarce, they made an agreement to go their separate ways so they might have better chances with food.  They swore to not cross each other's paths again, and the cat made its way to Adam's house to help him with a mouse problem.  The dog had horrible luck with food and fails every time he tries to find a new companion until he finds a house, whose owner gives him scraps and he thanks him by scaring off intruders.  The owner tells him that he can stay, but then the dog realizes that the owner is Adam.  The cat gets incredibly upset that he broke their agreement and they become enemies.

I love stories such as this.  Origin stories, explanations, they are always creative and interesting to read.  I would like to take this story but instead of explaining the conflict between cats and dogs I want to explain why dogs are man's best friend!  I will probably tell the story from a third perspective and have a man save a dog's life.  They will start out enemies and then become best friends.

Dog and Man sourced via Pexels

Bibliography:

The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog by Gertrude Landa

Feedback Strategies

I read the articles

The Difference Between Praise and Feedback

and

Specific Feedback that Helps Learning

My biggest thing with feedback is being specific about it.  My favorite of the articles I read was Specific Feedback that Helps Learning because I couldn't agree more with it.  Feedback should, in my opinion, contain two major points.  It should include the best part of the person's work and how they did it right, and the other is the worst part of the person's work and how they might improve.  This gives much more perspective for the student looking to see how a teacher/peer sees their work.  Feedback is supposed to help grow a person, thus focusing on what they do best and worst gives them both worlds.  Not only will they do what they do well, but they will do better at what they don'd do well at.

I am also a huge believer in process praise.  A student that isn't challenging themselves should not be praised by their effort, because there was very little effort.  Praise for work is the best praise.  At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how gifted a student is, it is how willing they are to keep improving themselves!

Praise picture: sourced via Pixabay

Topic Research for Dante's Inferno

I have chosen to research Dante's Inferno more in depth for my storybook project.

Story Ideas:

Hell on Earth:  This story will focus on how Dante's Inferno is not a place where one goes, but rather a hell that one brings upon themselves through their life choices.  I am thinking I would either do this as a style like that in the song "Guilty Conscience" by Eminem, where the hell is described from a first-person point of view from each person at different levels, or in a style similar to A Christmas Carol where it is more of a third-person perspective.  I think the best basis for the different levels would be Dante's Inferno's 9 circles of hell, because there are quite concrete requirements for each level of hell.  I would modify the exact requirements, but it would be based off this and have fewer levels to keep things shorter.

Ghost with Scrooge in A Christmas Carol: sourced via Wikipedia

Hell in Higher Ed:  This story will be a more comedic style where it is once again either a first-person or third-person perspective of students in college and the different levels of hell that they might experience.  This would either be based upon the major chosen or the year in college they are in.  It will cover the struggles college students go through with their daily lives.  I would obviously be creating my own standards for the different levels of this sort of "hell".

A Way Out: This story will be focused on the concept of a system of hell with different levels and ways out of each of them.  I have found it quite hard to find other literature that cover a topic such as this, which makes things difficult, but also quite exciting!  The closest I could think of or find is the concept of Purgatory, which is more of a limbo state where one can still repent from their sins and save themselves from hell.  This system will not be purgatory, but an actual hell with multiple layers and ways out of them.  This will be either descriptive or from a first person account.

Week 3 Story: Eve, Savior of Man and Founder of Science

Eve, Savior of Man and Founder of Science

By: Connor Dugan

I was nothing, and then I was.  Of flesh and bone God created me.  He told me my name is Adam, and to save me from loneliness, gave me Eve, my partner.  The world he put me in was beautiful.  Not a care in the world, not a problem in sight.

Adam and Eve in Paradise: sourced via Wikipedia

While we played and rejoiced in this bountiful place, I felt confused.  Later, I will find that Eve shared equal confusion.  We knew of nothing but this beautiful place.  Thus, we truly could not respect it for what it was.  We were born in paradise, lived in paradise, and for all we cared there was nothing but just that.  Oh how things have changed.  For good and for bad.  For we were given one command from God, and that was to not eat of the tree of knowledge.

I was always curious why God didn't want us to eat from the tree of knowledge.  After all, wouldn't God be proud of us for growing up to be like him?  Is there no room for company in the heavenly creations?  He never told us why, only that we would be doomed to death if we ate from it.  My curiosity was passionate, but Eve's, I'm afraid, was devastating.  I could tell in advance that she was tempted more than I to break our promise.  I told her to not even get within the vicinity of the tree... But it was not enough.

While I was gathering fruit for her, Eve wandered near the tree of knowledge.  After some conversation with the serpent, she was convinced to break her promise with me and went up to the tree.  This was the point of no return, for I had told her she would die if she got that close, and once she learned that I had stretched the truth, she had to know what the fruit would do to her.  She ate of it, and a blinding light came from the tree.  I believed God had set a fire of a million suns upon the tree to destroy our temptation, but later discovered it was eve who had transformed into a god herself.

I asked her what happened, and she said to me "Come, you have much to learn.".  The world shook, the vibrations levitated the oceans, and God came from the heavens screaming for her to stop.  All of reality collapsed, Eve took me aside to a third perspective, and the universe exploded.  I watched it spawn from nothing into a rapidly expanding, blazing hot, energy filled shape.  She called it the "universe", and said it is made of energy that is a fundamental part of it.  This energy can take many different forms, but it all comes from the same origin: the love she has for knowledge, the universe, and its inhabitants.  I watched the energy attract each other, form particles and gases, they collected and formed beautifully powerful spheres of radiating energy, some of these spheres would then collapse and form new, heavier particles, and the universe spread out into the most spectacular and beautifully complex existence I had ever seen.

I asked Eve why she did this.  Why would she overthrow God, and why would she create a place like this?  She told me that the knowledge from the fruit tree was the greatest gift she had ever been given.  Eating that fruit gave life meaning.  She told me that God had been so focused on making everything good and happy that he lost his focus on making everything worth experiencing.  She told me that I will love deeper if there is an opposite that she called "hate", that I would be happier if there was "sadness", and most importantly, that I would see existence as precious if there was "death".

I was shocked, amazed, frightened, and happy that I would get to experience this exciting and complex world.  "Eve, this is incredible!  Where do I start?  What body of mass shall I inhabit?  What fruit shall I be given?  What can I do what can't I do?  I am so excited to be the first to experience your creation!".  She looked at me, smiling.  She said softly, "Adam, this world has rules.  It has properties of logic, and no one may defy them.  This universe is an incredibly complex system that only stems from basic laws that must never be changed.  You will experience this world, but not in the form God made you.  Adam, this is our new home.  Soon, I will dissipate our souls, and we will reside in this universe as "consciousness".  We will only experience this world through the eyes of the life created by these laws."  I couldn't really understand what that meant.. But I trusted her.  She explained further that life would rise from the nonliving matter in the right conditions, and will take much time to develop into anything like they already currently were.  She said it would be much more rewarding this way, that they would experience all like in the entire universe simultaneously at any given moment, and experience the world in a linear fashion called "time".

Both of us were scared, for we knew horrible things could and would happen during our journey through the billions of years of existence in this universe.  But it would all be worth it, and it began with Eve's words, "Let it begin".

Author's note:

In the original story, Adam and Eve are created by God and are placed in the Garden of Eden where they could be in happiness forever, but that changed when they disobeyed God's only command: to not eat of the tree of knowledge.  God punishes them by casting them out of the garden and making them mortal and this is seen as a terrible and horrific occurrence.  I wanted to make a story where knowledge is seen as a blessing upon mankind, and that the bad parts of life are necessary for us to be happy and appreciate the world, and that Eve was heroic in a way.

Bibliography:

The Story of Adam and Eve, Part A, by Ginzberg