and then the hyena's coat. If he had been less enterprising and more
obedient, he would still have been the friend of God. After a wakeful
night he crept to the entrance to discover that the worst thing of all
had happened.

"A worse thing!" you exclaim. "I thought you were going to tell us a
cheerful Christmas story."

And so I am: but all the unfortunate part comes first--that's the way
the robins tell it. If you'll be patient and read on, you'll find this
is the very cheerfullest story that was ever told in earth or heaven.
You may not have noticed that we've not yet come to the first laugh. The
Woman has smiled and the hyena has scoffed; but no one has laughed. It's
when we come to the first laugh that the happiness commences.




V


The worst thing of all that the Man discovered when he crept to the
cave-entrance after a wakeful night, was this: with a terrible stealthy
silence snow was drifting down so that even the distant shining of the
gates of Eden was blotted out. It was frightening; snow had never fallen
in the world before. If it had, the Man had not seen it. Within the
walls of the garden summer had been perpetual. He stood there staring
out forlornly at the misty sea of shifting whiteness. It chilled him to
the bone. It seemed to him that the pillars of the sky had collapsed and
the dust of the moon and stars was falling. Soon everything would be