In the usual form of the mediaeval legend, Adam, drawing near his end,
sends Seth to the gate of Paradise, to seek the promised Oil of Mercy.
The Angel allows Seth to put his head in at the gate. Doing so (as an old
English version gives it) -
- "he saw a fair Well,
Of whom all the waters on earth cometh, as the Book us doth tell;
Over the Well stood a Tree, with bowes broad and lere
Ac it ne bare leaf ne rind, but as it for-olded were;
A nadder it had beclipt about, all naked withouten skin,
That was the Tree and the Nadder that first made Adam do sin!"
The Adder or Serpent is coiled about the denuded stem; the upper branches
reach to heaven, and bear at the top a new-born wailing infant, swathed in
linen, whilst (here we quote a French version) -
"Les larmes qui de lui issoient
Contreval l'Arbre en avaloient;
Adonc regarda l'enfant Seth
Tout contreval de L'ARBRE SECQ;
Les rachines qui le tenoient
Jusques en Enfer s'en aloient,
Les larmes qui de lui issirent
Jusques dedans Enfer cheirent."
The Angel gives Seth three kernels from the fruit of the Tree.
