THE SERPENT. You have both invented marriage. And what he will be to you
and not to any other woman is husband; and what you will be to him and
not to any other man is wife.
ADAM [_instinctively moving his hand towards her_] Husband and wife.
EVE [_slipping her hand into his_] Wife and husband.
THE SERPENT [_laughs_]!!!
EVE [_snatching herself loose from Adam_] Do not make that odious noise,
I tell you.
ADAM. Do not listen to her: the noise is good: it lightens my heart.
You are a jolly snake. But you have not made a vow yet. What vow do you
make?
THE SERPENT. I make no vows. I take my chance.
ADAM. Chance? What does that mean?
THE SERPENT. It means that I fear certainty as you fear uncertainty. It
means that nothing is certain but uncertainty. If I bind the future I
bind my will. If I bind my will I strangle creation.
EVE. Creation must not be strangled. I tell you I will create, though I
tear myself to pieces in the act.
ADAM. Be silent, both of you. I _will_ bind the future. I will be
delivered from fear. [_To Eve_] We have made our vows; and if you must
create, you shall create within the bounds of those vows.
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