XIV

(ll. 821-823) Then spake Eve, the lovely maid, fairest of women.
(She was the work of God, though led astray by power of the
fiend):

(ll. 824-826) "Well mayest thou upbraid me, my dear Adam! But
thou canst not repent one whit more bitterly in thy heart than my
heart repenteth."

(ll. 826-839) And Adam answered her: "If I but knew the will of
God, the penalty I needs must pay, thou couldest not find one
more swift to do it, though the Lord of heaven bade me go forth
and walk upon the sea. The ocean-stream could never be so
wondrous deep or wide that ever my heart would doubt, but I would
go even unto the bottom of the sea, if I might work the will of
God. I have no wish for years of manhood in the world now that I
have forfeited the favour of my Lord, and lost His grace. But we
may not be thus together, naked. Let us go into this grove, and
under the shelter of this wood."

(ll. 840-851) And they turned and went weeping into the green
wood, and sat them down apart from one another to wait the fate
the Lord of heaven should assign them, since they had lost their
former state and portion which Almighty God had given them. And
they covered their bodies with leaves, and clothed them with the
foliage of the wood, for they had no garments. And both together
bowed in prayer; and every morning they besought Almighty God,