"Ask then," said Merodach, smiling.
"Give me this garden to be my garden, and build me a palace where Adam had his cabin of boughs; a little palace of blue porcelain, which I may visit in the spring, and in the hot months of the year, and set at all the entrances into the valley great winged cherubim, that the wandering tribes may see that it is a royal palace, and fear to enter."
"So be it," said the King; and the Princess went off to inspect the site of the new palace.
"She is discreet, and charming, wise beyond her years," said Merodach. "We shall consider the son of Na'amah, my cousin, at Nippur. How is he called?"
"His name is Adamaharon," answered Bagoas, smiling; "and he is even now on his way to visit me at Uruk, where he has never been. He may turn aside to hunt. It is his ambition at present to kill a lion, for which he has a permit from the King's huntsman."
"He shall hunt with me," said the King; "but the Princess is still a little young for marriage."
She, unconscious of her fate, drew close to the cabin of Adam. That part of the valley had been deserted by the King's servants, and she was alone. She saw the glitter of a spear which lay in the doorway, and then the eyes of a young man watching her.
"I came for an apple," she said, turning toward the tree in the branches of which the great snake hung; "but Adam must have eaten them all."
"There is one at the top of the tree," said the boy. "Look! right at the top."
"It is too high. Perhaps you could knock it down with your spear?"