Back to the Garden

Pharyngula: Najash rionegrina, a snake with legs

Now the Myers was more subtil than any other beast
that abideth in the garden, from the greatest to the least.
And he said unto the woman, "Hath the LORD 'creator' said
that ye shall not eat of every tree lest ye should end up dead?"

And the woman spake to Myers, "We may eat of all the fruit
of the trees here in the garden that have ever taken root,
but the fruit that giveth knowledge, good and evil, truth and lie:
God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat it, neither touch it, lest ye die.'"

Then saith Myers to the woman, "That old fable! Save thy breath!
'Tis the essence of your being: reproduction—birth and death.
Let not fear of ancient stories cause you from the facts to flee."
And the woman's eyes were opened to the wonders of the tree.