XLVIII.—GOD'S COCK.
The earth was waste: nowhere was there aught but stone.
God was sorry for this, and sent his cock to make the earth
fruitful, as he knew how to do. The cock came down into
a cave in the rock, and fetched out an egg of wondrous
power and purpose. The egg chipped, and seven rivers
trickled out of it. The rivers irrigated the neighbourhood,
and soon all was green: there were all manner of flowers
and fruits; the land, without man's labour, produced wheat,
the trees not only apples and figs, but also the whitest and
sweetest bread. In this paradise men lived without care,
working, not from need, but for amusement and merriment.
Round the paradise were lofty mountains, so that there was
no violence to fear, nor devilish storm to dread. But
further: that men, otherwise their own masters, and free,
might not, from ignorance, suffer damage, God's cock
hovered high in the sky, and crowed to them every day,
when to get up, when to take their meals, and what to do,
and when to do it. The nation was happy, only God's cock
annoyed them by his continual crowing. Men began to
murmur, and pray God to deliver them from the restless
creature: `Let us now settle for ourselves,' said they, `when
to eat, to work, and to rise.' God hearkened to them; the
cock descended from the sky, but crowed to them just once
more: `Woe is me! Beware of the lake!' Men rejoiced,
and said that it was never better; no one any more interfered
with their freedom. After ancient custom, they ate,
worked, and rose, all in the best order, as the cock had
taught them. But, little by little, individuals began to think
that it was unsuitable for a free people to obey the cock's
crowing so slavishly, and began to live after their own
fashion, observing no manner of order. Through this arose
illnesses, and all kinds of distress; men looked again longingly
to the sky, but God's cock was gone for ever. They
wished, at any rate, to pay regard to his last words. But
they did not know how to fathom their meaning. The
cock had warned them to dread the lake, but why? for they
hadn't it in their valley; there flowed quietly, in their own
channel, the seven rivers which had burst out of the egg.
Men therefore conjectured that there was a dangerous lake
somewhere on the other side of the mountains, and sent a
man every day to the top of a hill to see whether he espied
aught. But there was danger from no quarter; the man
went in vain, and people calmed themselves again. Their
pride became greater and greater; the women made brooms
from the wheat-ears, and the men straw mattrasses. They
would not go any more to the tree to gather bread, but set
it on fire from below, that it might fall, and that they might
collect it without trouble. When they had eaten their fill,
they lay down by the rivers, conversed, and spoke all manner
of blasphemies. One cast his eyes on the water, wagged his
head, and jabbered: `Eh! brothers! A wondrous wonder!
I should like to know, at any rate, why the water is exactly
so much, neither more nor less.' `This, too,' another
answered, `was a craze of the cock's; it is disgraceful
enough for us to be listening to orders to beware of a lake,
which never was, and never will be. If my opinion is followed,
the watcher will go to-day for the last time. As
regards the rivers, I think it would be better if there were
more water.' His neighbour at first agreed, but thought,
again, that there was water in abundance; if more, there
would be too much. A corpulent fellow put in energetically
that undoubtedly both were right; it would, therefore, be
the most sensible thing to break the egg up, and drive just
as much water as was wanted into each man's land, and
there was certainly no need of a watchman to look out for
the lake. Scarcely had these sentiments been delivered,
when an outcry arose in the valley; all rushed to the egg to
break it to pieces; all men deplored nothing but this, that
the disgraceful look-out could not be put a stop to before
the morrow. The people stood round the egg, the corpulent
man took up a stone, and banged it against the egg. It
split up with a clap of thunder, and so much water burst
out of it that almost the whole human race perished. The
paradise was filled with water, and became one great lake.
God's cock warned truly, but in vain, for the lawless people
did not understand him. The flood now reached the
highest mountains, just to the place where the watchman
was standing, who was the only survivor from the destruction
of mankind. Seeing the increasing waters, he began to flee.
