Finally, Nelatha looked up with an expression of open impatience and
exasperation.
"Only man is ashamed," Nelatha said with quiet assurance, at long last
overcoming her reluctance of speaking of the Invisible One again. "Not
God. Foolish Si'Wren, you must try your best to live a sinless life. Do
good, and shun evil! Does not the wisdom of our folk lore teach us that
Adam, and Eve his wife, saw God openly and spoke to Him freely and
often, before they were both cast out of the Garden of Heaven for one
sin? No wonder He never shows His face! And does this not also teach us
that there is but one God?"
"It is curious," Si'Wren agreed, "that Adam and Eve should have been
created by only one god, when all men say there be many gods. Of a
truth, I have never considered it before. How can this be?"
"There is but one God," said Nelatha, "and in this life, no one may see
God and live. For all are sinful. Sin, before God, burns like charcoal
in a fire. But you will see Him on high some day, if you go to Paradise
after you die."
"You mean; if I have lived a good life?" Si'Wren said.
"Aye," nodded Nelatha, "that too. More, it will be to your good and
everlasting fortune if you have had good inside your heart, which like
Him is unseen, and not just in your outward behavior.
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