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Chapter 52
Adam and Eve sew the first shirt.
1AFTER this Adam and Eve said no more, but wept before God on account of their creation, and of their bodies that required an earthly covering.
2Then Adam said unto Eve, "O Eve, this is the skin of beasts with which we shall be covered. But when we have put it on, behold, a token of death shall have come upon us, inasmuch as the owners of these skins have died, and have wasted away. So also shall we die, and pass away."
3Then Adam and Eve took the skins, and went back to the Cave of Treasures; and when in it, they stood and prayed as they were wont.
4And they thought how they could make garments of those skins; for they had no skill for it.
5Then God sent to them His angel to show them how to work it out. And the angel said to Adam, "Go forth, and bring some palm-thorns." Then Adam went out, and brought some, as the angel had commanded him.
6Then the angel began before them to work out the skins, after the manner of one who prepares a shirt. And he took the thorns and stuck them into the skins, before their eyes.
7Then the angel again stood up and prayed God that the thorns in those skins should be hidden, so as to be, as it were, sewn with one thread.
8And so it was, by God's order; they became garments for Adam and Eve, and He clothed them withal.
9From that time the nakedness of their bodies was covered from the sight of each other's eyes.
10And this happened at the end of the fifty-first day.
11Then when Adam's and Eve's bodies were covered, they stood and prayed, and sought mercy of the Lord, and forgiveness, and gave Him thanks for that He had had mercy on them, and had covered their nakedness. And they ceased not from prayer the whole of that night.
12Then when the morn dawned at the rising of the sun, they said their prayers after their custom; and then went out of the cave.
13And Adam said unto Eve, "Since we know not what there is to the westward of this cave, let us go forth and see it to-day." Then they came forth and went towards the western border.