Reynald was a Hospitaller on his way to Crusade in the Holy Land.

Coming

from France, Reynald took up the cross in order to purge his soul of the sins that

haunted his life. However, while on his journey to the Holy Land, he encountered

several ancient figures who taught him more than any preacher or cleric, more so

even than the Holy Book. This is the chronicle of those encounters:

Reynald rode his horse through the dark woods, his armor clamoring

through the silence. He was a tall knight of about thirty-six, his brown hair barely

touching the metal of his shoulders. Upon his horse, he carried the equipment of a

light warrior: a dagger at his side, a long blade at the other and a yew bow with full

quiver. Reynald had reached the beautiful city of Constantinople several weeks ago,

and was headed towards Antioch in the Moslem land of Syria. Reynald was now a

couple weeks away from fighting Saracens, but wished to rest for a bit as it was

becoming dark and his horse was tired.

Reynald dismounted from his horse and tied up to a tree nearby. It was a

small clearing near a calm pool. He took his helmet off and dipped it into the pool.

He brought the half-full helmet to his horse and let the strider drink deeply from the

steel vessel. Once the horse had drunk his fill, he knelt down and tried to sleep for a

bit.

Reynald gathered some firewood and kindling for a fire, and placed the wood

in the middle of the clearing. Using his flint and striking stone, he sparked a few

flames, which after a few bellow blows became a roaring fire. The French knight

went back to the pool with his helmet and dipped it in the pool again for drinking
water and extinguishing aid. While the helmet was submerged, something long

slithering its way out of the water caught his eye. It seemed to be as wide as a thick

tree branch and as long as a league. The slithering creature disappeared into part of

the bushes. Reynald lifted his helmet out of the water and brought it back to the fire.

He sat down and placed the helmet nearby. Reynald reached into his

saddlebag and took out some pork to cook over the fire and bread to eat along with

the meat. He stuck the pork on his long sword and held it over the fire to cook.

“Rrrrreeeyyynaaaldddd…” whispered a voice in the darkness. Reynald placed

his blade on the grass and took his dagger from its sheath.

“Wh-who is there?” Reynald asked the darkness.

“Fear not Reynald…lower your blade and I will show myself…”

Reynald lowered his dagger and looked in the direction of the voice. There

was a slight rustling of the bushes, and from the bottom of the bush protruded a

large python. Reynald backed away slightly, while the python slithered forward and

began to stretch its muscles upwards so it was face to face with Reynald. Reynald

could see in the python’s eyes an ancient twinkle; clearly, this vociferous reptile was

either enchanted or divine.

“You need not fear me crusader, I only wish to speak to you. Do you know

who I am?” Reynald shook his head. A small smile came across the serpent’s face.
“That’s the issue with you humans, you never understand your origins properly. I

am the serpent God cursed at the creation of the world.”

Reynald, upon hearing this, raised his dagger again, ready to strike. “You…

you are the Devil, Satan himself!” The serpent laughed with a slight hiss.

“Pleassssse, if I was Satan, you would be dead already. No, I am not the Devil.

I am older than the Devil, Reynald. Years of false teachings has caused my character

to be tainted with a stigma that I do not deserve, for without my help, mankind

would cease to exist.”

Reynald lowered his dagger and sat down slowly, keeping his vision upon the

serpent. The snake also lowered himself and drew his attention from Reynald to the

fire.

“I have traveled for centuries to find one of keen heart that could hear my

tale and learn from it. You Reynald are that wanderer I have chosen. Be glad that

you shall be the one to hear the truth of what happened on that glorious day you call

the ‘Fall’ of Man.”

“When the world was nothing, there was a void that spanned far into that

nothingness. It was God and Asherah, his wife, who created the world as it is. God

knew of the heavens and Asherah knew of the earth, and together they created

wonders.
 Their love grew each and every day that they spent on the earth, but Asherah

could not stay on the earth for long. For you see, due to the changing of the seasons,

the earth began to weaken in the colder months, and so Asherah had to return to the

earth for a duration of several months to provide nourishment for her earth. She

said her farewells to her husband, but God could not bare to have her leave, for you

see, God’s loneliness knew no bounds. Therefore, Asherah smiled and took a single

of her golden hair, and whispered softly to it. In moments, the hair was transformed

into a long python that tickled its mistress’ neck with its tongue. I was that snake

who was formed from her hair, a symbol of her eternal affection for her husband. I

was created to counsel God and be at his side always, for without Asherah’s wisdom

within me, God would not have been able to take care of the world on his own.

One day, God came to me and told me that he wished to create other animals

to inhabit the earth. The plants were a nice touch, but he wished for something a

little more enjoyable to touch and watch, rather than to see and smell. I agreed with

his judgment, and together we created the birds of the sky, the creatures of the land,

and the beasts of the waters. Every animal was accounted for, and taken care of with

the grace of God and the wisdom of Asherah. Eden was truly paradise then.

However, God was not so much concerned with the new animals as he was

with the closing of the colder months. Asherah was returning soon and God wished

to surprise her with a special gift. God decided to create a female modeled in the

image of Asherah so the world would always notice the beauty of her during all

months of the year. Utilizing my counsel, God fashioned from a flower tree a
beautiful woman, made in the image of Asherah. I believe Eve was the closest we

could achieve to the real thing, and it was so.

When Asherah returned to the arms of her husband, she was filled with joy to

be held by him and to hold him as well. God told her of the surprise and wished to

see the gift. She inspected Eve very closely and concurred along with myself that Eve

was indeed a mirror image of my mistress. However, Asherah was saddened that

Eve had no one to share her life with, and so, Asherah formed from an oak tree a

handsome man in true mimicry of God. God saw Adam and agreed with Asherah that

he too was a mirror image. Both husbands and wives were happy to be amongst

each other once again in the Garden of Eden.

For months, this went on as such, and I slithered one day into my mistress’

chambers to see Asherah. She had her back turned to me, and I heard her weeping. I

slithered closer and asked her what was wrong. She looked at me with her docile,

doe eyes and related that she was saddened that the colder months were

approaching. Leaving her husband once again saddened her. Not only this, she

wished to give mankind her knowledge in order for them to take care of the earth

here so God could be with her during all the times of the year. I told her that that

would be wonderful for the both of them. She told me that God was angered by the

idea and that he could never leave the humans, for during the months he had lived

amongst Adam and Eve; he had begun to consider them as his children. My mistress

told me that Adam and Eve were ready to grow up and move on with their lives, in

order to create their own families. That was the last conversation I had with my

mistress.
 The next day she was leaving the Garden in order to help the earth once

again. Before she left, she related to me of a tree she had plant on the east of the

Garden. The tree bore the fruit of her knowledge and if Adam and Eve ate of the

fruit, then they too would have some of the knowledge of Asherah. I told her that

God would never agree to that, but my mistress told me that even if God should

declare it wrong, I was to give the fruit to Adam and Eve. We said our farewells, and

I made way to speak to God.

When I found God, he was weeping near a stream. I had never seen him so

sad. I slithered near him and asked him what was wrong. He told me that Asherah

had left once again and it saddened him. I comforted his loss, and told him of

Asherah’s plan to give the humans knowledge, but God would not hear of it. He

became furious at the thought and said it was dangerous to give them knowledge

and wisdom, for if they were given wisdom, perhaps they would not need God

anymore. I told him that the humans could no longer be children anymore and that

Asherah’s wishes were to eat of the fruit of knowledge. God then shouted at me,

more so than he ever had before and swore me to never speak of the tree again. I

saw the anger of God and realized that he was no longer the rational being he had

been. He was becoming something different, a more human-like God.

I began to search for the best opportunity to give the fruit to Adam and Eve. I

slept in the tree my mistress had planted at the east of Eden, and was comforted by

it. It was as if she was there holding onto me as she had done before. Days passed

and no one came near the tree. I was beginning to lose hope completely, when I
heard a rustling of the bushes near the tree. I looked and saw Eve had stumbled

upon the glade the tree was planted in.

I spoke to her from the tree and enticed to eat of the fruit. She told me that

God had forbidden them to eat of the fruit for it would kill them. I told her that the

fruit came from the knowledge of Asherah, the very being whom she was created

for. I asked her if she really thought the fruit of blessed wisdom would kill her and

slithered around her arm with the fruit in my mouth. I told her to eat it and give

some of it to Adam to eat as well. She bit into the fruit and I could see her eyes were

truly opened. Only before had she been a mere copy of Asherah, but now she

seemed to be a true likeness of the goddess herself.

Eve ran to Adam and gave him the fruit to eat, but he refused it saying that

God had forbidden them to eat the fruit. Eve told Adam that she had eaten the fruit

and was completely fine. Adam looked apprehensive at his wife, but trusted her.

Glory to you humans for that trust. Both of their eyes were open to the knowledge of

the world and they were happy to see each other truly. I was glad to see both Adam

and Eve were welcoming of Asherah’s wisdom, but my joy was short lived.

Soon, God found out about the eaten fruit and I became the scapegoat of the

crime. However, I was proud to do my mistress’ bidding. For my work, God

punished me to crawl upon the earth for eternity, but his own curse was cursing me.

For Asherah found out about my cursing and never returned to God’s arms. She

instead took in the banished Adam and Eve, and nurtured them through the earth.

Now God weeps forever for his lost children and his lost love.

And that is the truth of the tale.”

 “Since that day have not regretted my actions, and you Christians call it a ‘fall’

from the grace of God. It is the gift of free will that Asherah gave you and the

knowledge to utilize it wisely. It is not a ‘fall’, but rather a ‘hope’. Learn from this

‘hope’ Reynald, for in the days to come you will have to make many choices that you

may not wish to make. Look into your heart in order to find the answer, for Asherah

has placed the answers within you. Now you just have to find them, and remember

this: no one is perfect, not even God.”

And with that final word, the serpent began to slither back into the darkness.

After a long while the noise was gone and Reynald was left with the silence of the

woods and could barely contemplate the story he had heard only moments ago.