THE SERPENT. I tell you the labor is too much for one. Two must share it.
EVE. Do you mean that Adam must share it with me? He will not. He cannot bear pain, nor take trouble with his body.
THE SERPENT. He need not. There will be no pain for him. He will implore you to let him do his share. He will be in your power through his desire.
EVE. Then I will do it. But how? How did Lilith work this miracle?
THE SERPENT. She imagined it.
EVE. What is imagined?
THE SERPENT. She told it to me as a marvellous story of something that never happened to a Lilith that never was. She did not know then that imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.
EVE. How can I create out of nothing?
THE SERPENT. Everything must have been created out of nothing. Look at that thick roll of hard flesh on your strong arm! That was not always there: you could not climb a tree when I first saw you. But you willed and tried and willed and tried; and your will created out of nothing the roll on your arm until you had your desire, and could draw yourself up with one hand and seat yourself on the bough that was above your head.
EVE. That was practice.