ABSTRACT
Two young people live in a beautiful garden called Eden with animals that are also harmonious innocents. Apparently there is not much to do in this garden other than to enjoy it. The garden provided plenty of food. Adam and Eve are not to eat from the tree of knowledge, an apple tree, or they will become mortal and eventually die. It would seem that this intimate engagement is either just starting or ending. Either way, the act is likely to lead to the moment of ultimate surrender: the shuddering into another realm, into nothingness, an exquisite state of collapse, of letting go completely, of being carried away into temporary separation from ourselves in exchange for a brief connection to everything else. Jansson is reminding people of this, possibly that God meant people to take a risk, meant for them to see whether they can evolve and learn to balance their self-interest with the greater good.
