Adam's Contract

The Contract in Clay

When Adam and Eve descended to Earth, they found it already ruled by the Devil. “Sign a contract and belong to me,” the Devil demanded of Adam.

“But I don’t know how to write,” Adam replied.

The Devil, ever cunning, fashioned a brick of clay and showed Adam where to mark it. Adam signed, and the Devil cast the brick into fire, then hid the hardened contract deep in the flames of hell. Thus, Adam and all his descendants were bound to the Devil. In return, he gave them land—just enough to labor on, never to own.

God, seeing this, gave Adam a plow and said, “Plow the earth three times, and it shall provide all you need.”

Adam obeyed. But the oxen yoked to his plow were wild, and they broke free. While Adam searched for them, the Devil reappeared.

“You will still need to plow, for your children and their children will come after you,” the Devil said.

“But how can I plow with no oxen?” Adam cried.

“Give me your grandchildren and all who come after them—after they die—and I will return your oxen,” said the Devil.

Thinking little of what comes after death, Adam agreed. The Devil forged a second contract and vanished once more into hell.

Adam recovered the oxen and began to plow as far as his eyes could see. But God returned and said:

“What are you doing, Adam? Plowing beyond measure? You may work the hills and valleys all you wish, but you shall receive only what I choose to give. Had you followed my command, three furrows would have sufficed.”

And so it is that we toil endlessly, yet possess only what God grants.

The Rescue Mission

Hell, now filled with souls, stirred God’s mercy. He sent the Archangel Gabriel to descend into the infernal realm and serve the Devil for one year, in order to uncover the secret of Adam’s contracts. But Gabriel was warned: he must speak nothing of his mission until the Devil asked.

For a year, Gabriel served faithfully in hell. Yet the Devil never questioned him.

Frustrated, the Archangel stormed out, slamming the gates so hard that hell trembled. He returned to God and said, “I have served in vain! He asked me nothing!”

“Return,” said God. “Serve another year. He must speak.”

Gabriel obeyed, enduring another year of darkness. At last, the Devil asked, “Why have you stayed so long?”

“I wish to know,” Gabriel replied, “how the contract you made with Adam might be retrieved.”

The Devil answered, “It can only be taken by one born of the Holy Spirit, through a virgin.”

Then Gabriel realized he made a mistake by telling the devil what he wanted and fled. As he soared back to heaven, he slammed the gate of hell behind him. In a final act of rage, the Devil reached up and clawed Gabriel’s heel, wounding him.

From that wound, it is said, came the arch of the human foot—for before that, our feet were flat.