ADAM [dropping the snake’s head in his excitement] What!  Eve:  do not play with me about this.  If only there may be an end some day, and yet no end!  If only I can be relieved of the horror of having to endure myself for ever!  If only the care of this terrible garden may pass on to some other gardener!  If only the sentinel set by the Voice can be relieved!  If only the rest and sleep that enable me to bear it from day to day could grow after many days into an eternal rest, an eternal sleep, then I could face my days, however long they may last.  Only, there must be some end, some end:  I am not strong enough to bear eternity.

THE SERPENT.  You need not live to see another summer; and yet there shall be no end.

ADAM.  That cannot be.

THE SERPENT.  It can be.

EVE.  It shall be.

THE SERPENT.  It is.  Kill me; and you will find another snake in the garden tomorrow.  You will find more snakes than there are fingers on your hands.

EVE.  I will make other Adams, other Eves.

ADAM.  I tell you you must not make up stories about this.  It cannot happen.

THE SERPENT.  I can remember when you were yourself a thing that could not happen.  Yet you are.

ADAM [struck] That must be true. [He sits down on the stone].

THE SERPENT.  I will tell Eve the secret; and she will tell it to you.

ADAM.  The secret! [He turns quickly towards the serpent, and in doing so puts his foot on something sharp].  Oh!

EVE.  What is it?

ADAM [rubbing his foot] A thistle.  And there, next to it, a briar.  And nettles, too!  I am tired of pulling these things up to keep the garden pleasant for us for ever.

THE SERPENT.  They do not grow very fast.  They will not overrun the whole garden for a long time:  not until you have laid down your burden and gone to sleep for ever.  Why should you trouble yourself?  Let the new Adams clear a place for themselves.

ADAM.  That is very true.  You must tell us your secret.  You see, Eve, what a splendid thing it is not to have to live for ever.

EVE [throwing herself down discontentedly and plucking at the grass] That is so like a man.  The moment you find we need not last for ever, you talk as if we were going to end today.  You must clear away some of those horrid things, or we shall be scratched and stung whenever we forget to look where we are stepping.

ADAM.  Oh yes, some of them, of course.  But only some.  I will clear them away tomorrow.

THE SERPENT [laughs]!!!

ADAM.  That is a funny noise to make.  I like it.

EVE.  I do not.  Why do you make it again?

THE SERPENT.  Adam has invented something new.  He has invented tomorrow.  You will invent things every day now that the burden of immortality is lifted from you.

EVE.  Immortality?  What is that?