A Son of Adam

One hot summer day, a man was digging in his master’s field. The sun was blazing, and his back was aching. He stopped to wipe his face, and he began to grumble. “It is all Adam’s fault,” he said. “Long ago, Adam was told not to touch one special apple, and he took it anyway.” “If he had only listened, none of us would have to work so hard!”

His master was walking by, and he heard every word. “Why do you blame Adam?” asked the master. “You would have done just the same.” “Oh no, not me,” said the man. “I would have listened.” The master smiled. “Then let us see,” he said. “Come to my house at lunchtime.”

At lunchtime, the man came to the big house. The master led him into a room with a long table. On the table were all sorts of good things: hot soup, fresh bread, cheese, pies, and sweet cakes. In the very middle stood one dish with a shiny silver cover on top. “You may eat anything you like,” said the master. “But do not lift the cover of the dish in the middle until I come back.” Then the master went out and shut the door.

The man sat down and ate happily. He had a bowl of soup, a slice of pie, and two pieces of cake. But the master did not come back, and the man kept looking at the covered dish. “What can be in there?” he wondered. “It must be something very special.” “I will not eat it, I will only take a tiny peek.”

So he lifted the cover just a little bit, but he could not see anything. He lifted it a little more, and out jumped a small brown mouse! The mouse ran across the table, between the pies, and down onto the floor. “Come back!” cried the man, and he chased it around the room. He crawled under the table and bumped his head, and he knocked over a chair with a crash. But the quick little mouse ran this way and that way, and he could not catch it.

Just then, the door opened, and in came the master. He looked at the man on the floor, at the chair, and at the empty dish. “Well, my friend,” he said with a laugh, “I don’t think you will blame Adam again!” The man laughed too, and he went back to his digging without another grumble.