"C. L. Moore - Fruit Of Knowledge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore C. L)

So long as she could prevent it he would never taste that Fruit. The knowledge
of evil was not in him and it must never
be. For she was herself, as she realized well, the essence of abstract evil as
opposed to abstract good-balancing it, making it possible. Her part was as
necessary as God's in the scheme of creation, for light cannot exist without
dark, nor positive without negative, nor good without evil.
Yet she did not feel in the least evil just now. There was no antagonism at
all between her negation and the strong positive innocence of the man beside
her.
"Look," said Adam, sweeping a long-armed gesture. A low hillside lay before
them, starry with flowers except for a scar in its side where the raw, bare
earth of Eden showed through. The scar was already healing over with a faint
mist of green. "That's where I was made," said Adam softly. "Right out of that
hillside. Does it seem rather.
rather wonderful to you, Lilith?"
"If it does to you," she crooned, and meant it. "Why?"
"The animals don't seem to understand. I hoped you would. It's as if the. . .
the whole Garden were part of me. If there are other men, do you suppose
they'll love the earth like this, Lilith, for its own sake? Do you think
they'll have this same feeling about the place where they were born? Will one
certain hill or valley be almost one flesh with theirs, so that they'd sicken
away from it and fight and die if they had to, to keep it-as I think I would?
Do you feel it, too?"
The air went pulsing past them, sweet with the music of the seraphim, while
Lilith looked out over the valley that had brought Adam to birth. She was
trying hard, but she could not quite grasp that passionate identification with
the earth of Eden which beat like blood through Adam's veins.
"Eden is you," she murmured. "I can understand that. You mustn't ever leave
it."
"Leave it?" laughed Adam. "Where else is there? Eden belongs to us forever-and
you belong to me."


Lilith let herself relax delightfully against his shoulder, knowing suddenly
that she loved this irresponsible, dangerous flesh even while she distrusted
it. And- Something was wrong. The sudden awareness of it chilled her and she
glanced uneasily about, but it was several minutes before her fleshbound
senses located the wrongness. Then she put her head back and stared up through
the trees with puckered brows.
"What is it?" Adam smiled down at her. "Angels? They go over quite often, you
know."
Lilith did not answer. She was listening hard. Until now all Eden had echoed
faintly and sweetly with the chanting of seraphim about the Throne. But now
the sounds that sifted down through the bright, translucent air were not
carols of praise. There was trouble in heaven. She could hear faraway shouts
in great, ringing, golden voices from infinitely high above, the clash and
hiss of flaming swords, and now and again a crash as if part of the very walls
of heaven had crumbled inward under some unimaginable onslaught.
It was hard to believe-but there was war in heaven.
A wave of relief went delightfully through Lilith. Good-let them fight. She