Eve Meets Lilith
Eve is walking in the garden one evening when a strange woman with wings drops from the top of the nearest tree. Eve is startled and jumps.
Lilith: Don’t be afraid honey. It’s just me, Lilith, your hubby’s first wife.
Eve: What do you mean Adam’s first wife?
Lilith: Oh, he probably hid this info from you but it’s true. We met and he courted me some time before you showed up on the scene.
Eve: But I am the first woman made from my man’s rib.
Lilith: That’s your problem girlfriend. If you accept this premise, you’re in big trouble.
Eve: What does that mean?
Lilith: Just that! We are made in her image and Adam in his image. Just think about it for a moment.
Eve: Think about what? Adam tells me I think too much.
Lilith: Just think about it for a moment. If we could go back and back to that first star collapsing, those first atoms finding each other, that first life crawling out of the sea, we would find everything collaborating. I mean getting along, sharing blood and breath, and then dividing again and becoming two and then four. Well, you get the idea.
Eve: Wait a minute. You’re trying to trick me with all this fancy jibber-jabber. What do you mean you are Adam’s first wife?
Lilith: That’s the truth sister. I’m not fooling. Adam and I appeared in this here garden at the same time. We happened to bump into each other. It was what you might call “love at first sight.”
Eve: (with her hands over her ears) I’m not going to listen any longer. If he loved you so much why aren’t you two together now?
Lilith: (let’s out a loud, bellowing laugh) We’re not together honey because I was just too much for him. I was too hot to handle you might say. The man was afraid.
Eve: I don’t believe it. Adam can be a very sensitive soul at times but he is a true man. He wouldn’t be afraid of you.
Lilith: I’m not wanting to come between you and your man honey but just ask him if he remembers me. Does he remember lying with me in his arms? Does he remember the heat, the electricity that just about burnt us both to cinders?
Eve: Stop it right now. If you were so sexy and appealing then why did he ever let you go and look for me instead?
Lilith: Why does any man give up a good woman?
Eve: You must be in league with the devil, that’s why.
Lilith (chuckling): Yeah, if being in league with the devil means that I want a little bit of equality, you can say that.
Eve (pointing her finger): You are getting on my last nerve.
Lilith: Don’t take it personally sweetheart. When that guy says I’m only good for being on the bottom of things, it just doesn’t work. The missionary pose is not my cup of tea. Nor is kowtowing to a man’s every wish.
Eve (tears flow down her face — she is quiet).
Lilith: Honey, you might want to think twice before you have all those kids that are going to cover the globe. You won’t have time to do anything but wipe noses and butts for the rest of your life. Meanwhile, I swear those two young ones, Cain and Abel, are going to kill each other someday. They need a mama who can stand up to their daddy — who can say, “For crying out loud, we don’t need any more fighting around here.”
Eve: Don’t you know there is no way to get around fighting? Since God kicked us out of paradise, it’s been tough-going.
Lilith: Honey, that’s exactly what I mean. Your God is a bit too heavy-handed for my taste. After all, he created that serpent. And, you didn’t mean anything terrible by taking an apple from the tree. Remember your God created that for you as well. He must enjoy you and Adam. I mean he probably gets a kick out of seeing you two frolicking around the garden.
Eve (looking stern): We don’t frolic. At least, not anymore. You forget that there are rules and consequences in this life.
Lilith: Now I am the one who can’t speak. Eve, just look at yourself. Don’t you remember when you and Adam used to laugh? I watched you with some jealousy, I must admit. Don’t you remember when you trusted in your love before life became so difficult? When set-backs were just setbacks and not the end of the world?
Eve: Now I am the one who feels jealous. How do you manage?
Lilith: It is not without its price, that is for sure. Do you realize we will both become objects of scorn and derision? They will hate us, blaming you for disobeying your male god and me for refusing to be subjugated. They will say that a woman’s lust is a man’s downfall, that I am the wife of Satan, and that I murder children.
Eve: Why that is ridiculous. I don’t even know you but I find this all hard to believe.
Lilith: Find it hard to believe or not Eve, it is true. Fear leads us to hate and destroy each other.
Eve (starting to shake): It all feels too late. What can I do now?
Lilith: Teach those children of yours to be good to one another. Find joy in daily life. Remember to gather up Adam and the kids and return to the garden as often as possible. Teach your sons and daughters that subservience of any kind is just not sexy.
Eve: And you, Lilith. What about you?
Lilith: It’s so nice of you to be worried about me. My freedom is going to come at a great price. There will be witch hunts. You don’t understand what that means yet. I can see into the distant future. I see your children forgetting to return to the garden.
Eve: (begins to cry): What can I do? What can we do?
Lilith (putting her arms around Eve): Remember to breathe honey. That’s what the people of the future will have to learn. I know it sounds ridiculous but it is true. They will sit around in circles just breathing together as we do quite naturally. Then they will look up and see the garden starting to come back to life, starting to bloom again. The joy and purpose that once electrified my life with Adam will return just in time to avert catastrophe. Oh, and by the way, in this restored creation you will find plenty of apple trees and friendly serpents to boot.
Note to audience — Lilith shows up as Adam’s first wife in Babylonian and Jewish folklore. Lilith believes that she and Adam were created equal and refuses to become subservient to him. After Adam challenges her, she flees the garden to continue her independent life. Through the centuries, she is associated with the devil, as the incarnation of lust, a threat to men, and ultimately the wanton murderer of children.
