Page:Love and its hidden history.djvu/103

 and the morning stars sang together for joy. If it be true that of all enigmas and mysteries on this earth, man is the greatest and most profound, then certainly the most difficult part of that mighty riddle is the wonderful being called woman, — wonderful in many ways and sense?, as I shall most abundantly demonstrate before the conclusion of this brief article.

There is an old Talmudic legend concerning the advent of woman on this earth, which goes far toward showing that in many things she was understood better some thousands of years before the Christian era than she is to-day, even among the most highly cultivated and polished circles of modern civilized society, in the loftiest centres of learning and refinement. The legend tells us that when the idea struck the that they would people this earth with beings only a little inferior to themselves, they were so pleased with it that they forthwith set themselves to work to gather the very finest and most perfect particles of dust they could find in ten thousand years; which dust their chief straight-way formed into a man, and, in doing so, used up all the material. After enjoying the sight of the new-made being awhile, they put him in a very pleasant garden; but the lonely one was very miserable and unhappy, and at last made such a hideous noise with his grumbles and growlings, that, to save their lives, the Elohim could not get a wink of sleep. He kept it up, however, night and day, till his hair frizzled all over his head, and he grew quite black in the face. That was the Talmudic origin of the black race. But one day he chanced to go near some still water, and saw his own image reflected therein, which sight so frightened him that he stopped groaning. Now the sudden cessation of the noise caused one of the Elohim to look out of his window in the sky, to see what on earth could be the matter, and, observing the man, he went down and asked him what was up. Says the man, "I'm tired of this garden, — it's altogether too lonesome." "Well, I haven't anything to do about that. Who are you, anyhow? I never saw you before, — that's certain!" Said the man, "I wonder, now, why you made me, and put me here?" "I made you? Why, you black wretch, I never saw you till this moment;" and with that he slapped his face, flattened his nose, spread his feet, and he has remained so ever since. That first experiment was a failure. After the Elohim had discovered his mistake, the council determined to try again,