By far the most common
opening of an Eastern tale is the statement that there
was a certain king, wise, wealthy, and powerful, but
though he had many beautiful wives and handmaidens,
Heaven had not yet blest him with a son, and in
consequence of this all his life was embittered, and he
knew no peace day or night.
[59] Professor Charles Marelle, of Berlin, in an interesting
little collection, _Affenschwanz, &c.; Variants orales
de Contes Populaires, Francais et Etrangers_
(Braunschweig, 1888), gives an amusing story, based
evidently on this rabbinical legend: The woman formed
from Adam's tail proved to be as mischievous as a
monkey, and gave her spouse no peace; whereupon another
was formed from a part of his breast, and she was a
decided improvement on her sister. All the giddy girls
in the world are descended from the woman who was made
from Adam's tail.
Adam's excuse for eating of the forbidden fruit, "She gave me of the
tree and I did eat," is said to be thus ingeniously explained by the
learned Rabbis: By giving him of the _tree_ is meant that Eve took a
stout crab-tree cudgel, and gave her husband (in plain English) a sound
rib-roasting, until he complied with her will!--The lifetime of Adam,
according to the Book of Genesis, ch.
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