male-female created he him."[58] These two natures it was thought lay side by side; according to some, the male on the right and the female on the left; according to others, back to back; while there were those who maintained that Adam was created with a tail, and that it was from this appendage that Eve was fashioned![59] Other Jewish traditions (continues Mr. Hershon) inform us that Eve was made from the thirteenth rib of the right side, and that she was not drawn out by the head, lest she should be vain; nor by the eyes, lest she should be wanton; nor by the mouth, lest she should be given to garrulity; nor by the ears, lest she should be an eavesdropper; nor by the hands, lest she should be intermeddling; nor by the feet, lest she should be a gadder; nor by the heart, lest she should be jealous;—­but she was taken out from the side:  yet, in spite of all these precautions, she had every one of the faults so carefully guarded against!

   [57] Commentators on the Kuran say that Adam’s beard did not
        grow till after his fall, and it was the result of his
        excessive sorrow and penitence.  Strange to say, he was
        ashamed of his beard, till he heard a voice from heaven
        calling to him and saying:  “The beard is man’s ornament
        on earth; it distinguishes him from the feeble woman.” 
        Thus we ought to—­should we not?—­regard our beards as
        the offshoots of what divines term “original sin”; and
        cherish them as mementoes of the Fall of Man.  Think of
        this, ye effeminate ones who use the razor!

   [58] The notion of man being at first androgynous, or
        man-woman, was prevalent in most of the countries of
        antiquity.  Mr. Baring-Gould says that “the idea, that
        man without woman and woman without man are imperfect
        beings, was the cause of the great repugnance with which
        the Jews and other nations of the East regarded
        celibacy.” (Legends of the Old Testament, vol. i, p.
        22.) But this, I think, is not very probable.  The
        aversion of Asiatics from celibacy is rather to be
        ascribed to their surroundings in primitive times, when
        neighbouring clans were almost constantly at war with
        each other, and those chiefs and notables who had the
        greatest number of sturdy and valiant sons and grandsons
        would naturally be best able to hold their own against
        an enemy.  The system of concubinage, which seems to have
        existed in the East from very remote times, is not
        matrimony, and undoubtedly had its origin in the
        passionate desire which, even at the present day, every
        Asiatic has for male offspring.  By far the most common
        opening of an Eastern tale is the statement that there
        was a certain king, wise, wealthy, and powerful, but
        though he had many beautiful wives and handmaidens,
        Heaven had not yet blest him with a son, and in
        consequence of this all his life was embittered, and he
        knew no peace day or night.