And craved Life for it from Almighty God,
And God Almighty gave it Life.
Then sneezed God Almighty, and the image of Adam brake in pieces,
And he (Azrael) returned to remake the image of Adam.
Then God Almighty commanded to take steel of Khorassan,
And drive it down his back, so that it became the thirty-three bones,
The harder steel at the top, the softer below it.
The harder steel shot up skywards,
And the softer steel penetrated earthwards.
Thus the image of Adam had life, and dwelt in Paradise.
(There) Adam beheld (two ?) peacocks of no ordinary beauty,
And the Angel Gabriel appeared.
‘Verily, O Angel Gabriel, I am solitary,
Easier is it to live in pairs, I crave a wife.’
God Almighty spake, saying, ‘Command Adam
To pray at dawn a prayer of two genuflexions.’
Then Adam prayed, and our Lady Eve descended,
And was captured by the Prophet Adam;
But before he had finished his prayer she was taken back,
Therefore Adam prayed the prayer of two genuflexions as desired,
And at the last obtained our Lady Eve.
When they were married (Eve) bore twins every time,
Until she had borne forty-four children,
And the children, too, were wedded, handsome with handsome, and plain with
plain.”
The magician who dictated the above account stated that when Azrael stretched
forth his hand to take the Heart of the Earth, the Earth-spirit caught hold of his
middle finger, which yielded to the strain, and thus became longer than the rest,
and received its Malay name of the “Devil’s Finger” (jari hantu).
A parallel account adds that the Heart of the Earth was white, and gives a fuller
description of the interview between Azrael and his formidable antagonist, the
Earth. After saluting the latter in the orthodox Muhammadan fashion, Azrael
explains his mission, and is met by a point-blank refusal. “I will not give it,” said
the Earth (referring to its Heart), “forasmuch as I was so created by God
Almighty, and if you take away my Heart I shall assuredly die.” At this brusque,