The Year of the Flood

Adam One announces to everyone that they are celebrating the Feast of Serpent Wisdom and Rebecca has made a zucchini and radish dessert slice to commemorate it. He also warns everyone that some people in the pleeblands have been asking about Zeb and his whereabouts; in case anyone approaches them, he advises that “‘I don’t know’ is always the best answer” (277).

Adam One reads a verse from Matthew 10:16, which teaches people to be wise as serpents. Adam One explains that serpents, despite their reputation as merely evil creatures, are a very complicated symbol. In some cultures and religions they represent healing, in others renewal, but their wisdom is “the wisdom of feeling directly, as the Serpent feels vibrations in the Earth” (278). In that regard humans should strive to be more like animals, to have faith in God and not give in to fears and anxieties. This “wholeness of being” (278) is the serpent wisdom, and all Gardeners should seek it.

Adam One ends their gathering with a hymn titled “God Gave Unto the Animals,” which praises animals for their inborn wisdom on how to live and encourages humans to learn from them.