Fall
by
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The Ama-Horuh was now lower in the sky, coming near to the tops of the distant trees of the Forest. Its heat was now noticeably more feeble and its light more wan. In its thinning russet rays, the Fruit seemed to gleam an iridescent crimson. Its skin was smooth and shiny and its shape grew out in gentle and delicate curves from its stem.
Ana-Hashah took a further step towards it, his eyes on it, and he spoke to the Man and the Woman below him.
Do you know what Bad is?
They did not answer. Perhaps they could not now even hear him. He went on.
It is everything not Good.
That made them stir below him and he heard the Man begin to murmur audibly now but still with no discernible words. Ana-Hashah spoke again:
But how does one KNOW what is Good and what is Bad?
It was the Woman who answered: HABBA-AH tells us.
Ana-Hashah shuddered at that name and his claws dug into the bough of the Tree to prevent him falling. He let out a hiss. Very careful now.
Yes. Yes, the Voice – H-he - tells you what is Good but you do not KNOW what is Good for yourself. This from the bough of the Tree of Good and Bad, this before your eyes, is how you will KNOW what is Good and what is Bad.
The Fruit is Good.
The Woman spoke it and he felt another thrill like a hot flame move through him.
Yes. This IS Good. It is what the Voice wants to give to you. It – He - has been only waiting before giving it to you. Until you were ready.
Ana-Hashah lowered his whole head and looked down at them. The Man was frowning down at the grass of the Tel as if thinking fiercely. His hand was still upon the Woman’s arm but Ana-Hashah could see that its grip was now tighter for the Woman’s flesh bulged between its whitened fingers. Steady.
Aha-Wah. I came to you because YOU are ready. He…..the Voice….. sees it too. That’s why….He sent me.
The Woman spoke: But HABBA-AH said that we were not to eat of this bough or even to look upon it.
The Man gasped then and spoke finally in a rough, though uneven, voice, keeping his hand upon the Woman and talking over her. He smelt of Fear, even if he did not know it, Ana-Hashah realized. He said:
….or we would Die.
But you have not Died even though it is here before you and you have looked upon it. Can you not see that it is Beautiful?
That gave them pause. He saw quite plainly that it did.
Then the Woman parted her lips and let out a soft sigh of yearning below him.
He told you that earlier because you were not yet ready.
Ana-Hashah looked now only at the Woman.
Only now you are. Come now and receive this gift. It is called Knowledge. KNOW what is Good for yourself. Become even like HIM.
The Woman looked at him for a moment, her lips still parted, and then darted her eyes once more to the Fruit. And Ana-Hashah saw with trembling joy that they now BURNED!
Ana-Hashah stepped even closer to the Fruit ….. and suddenly it fell to the ground!
It hit the soft grass of the Tel with a dull thud and rolled to the Woman’s very feet. Both she and the Man gasped and stepped hastily away from it. It lay gleaming softly in the fleeting, fading light of Day.
Ana-Hashah froze, clinging to the bough of the Tree, his mind a red haze, his eyes locked upon the distant tops of the trees of the Forest. He could not think or feel or breathe. He dared not.
There is nothing more that can be done. She will take of it or she will not. And what of the Voice? He let out another soft hiss. Will It even allow her to take it?
Yet something told him that the Woman could choose this and not be stopped. The Voice would not stop her. Perhaps…..perhaps It was not as Powerful as he thought It was? Could that not be so?
After what seemed the passing of all the Days since he had Awakened unto this very Day and then beyond into Eternity, he dared lower his eyes once more to the ground below him. And saw.
He saw her move slowly as if she were wading through the strong waters of the edge of the Great River. He saw the Man’s hand fall slowly away from her arm and fall limply to his side. He saw her crouch down before the Fruit and take it greedily into her hands. He saw her rise once more and stand beside the Man, looking down at it with shining eyes, saw now both of them look down at it with shining eyes!
It seemed to him that Hede-Nuh stilled. It became as if no trees and no animals and no streams had ever come or had ever been.
The Woman brought the Fruit to her lips.
‘Do it,’ Ana-Hashah thought at her with all his might. He shook so much he had to dig his claws into the thick, grey bough to prevent him falling once more. ‘Do it and let me see what will happen to you. Give it to HIM too. Let me see what Death is and what it does to both of you! Let me see all of this horribleness end, this precious Friendship with the Voice and this trust It has given only to YOU. Oh, do it. Do it now! I want to see! I want to see what happens when you Die!’
The Woman closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and took a bite.
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About the Book
Something Bad lurks in the fields and amongst the trees of the Garden where Hadah-Muh and Ahah-Wah have lived in harmony with all the Animals and tended the fruits and the vegetables – something not Good. Habbah-Ah, He Who dwells in the Beyond above and Who sometimes comes to walk with them in the Garden has warned them of it. But they have forgotten. And now everything that is Good in this new, young, beautiful World is threatened. For Anah-Hashah, their Nemesis who has so patiently stalked them and plotted his revenge against them is, at last, about to strike. He has fed and nurtured but one goal in his spiteful heart through all of the passing Days in this Garden of Life: to open the way toward Death; to cause the Man and the Woman to Fall.
About the Author
Eldon Crowe is a Canadian writer of stories of many genres from children’s literature to science fiction to young-adult fiction and general fiction. He enjoys a special passion for spiritual fiction, stories that explore the spiritual development of individual men and women. He lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, with his wife and two children.