Adam and Eve sew the first shirt.
Book I. Chapter LII.
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After 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.
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Then 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."
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Then 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.
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And they thought how they
could make garments of those skins; for they had no skill for it.
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Then 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.
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Then 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.
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Then 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.
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And so it was, by God's
order; they became garments for Adam and Eve, and He clothed them
withal.
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From that time the nakedness
of their bodies was covered from the sight of each other's eyes.
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And this happened at the end
of the fifty-first day.
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Then 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.
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Then when the morn dawned at
the rising of the sun, they said their prayers after their custom; and
then went out of the cave.
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And 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.
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