Pages 32-33 of Harold S. Kushner's book, "
How Good Do We Have to Be?" proposes a different ending to the Garden of Eden story.......
"So the woman saw that the tree was good to eat and a delight to the eye, and the serpent said to her, 'Eat of it, for when you eat of it, you will be as wise as God.' But the woman said, 'No, God has commanded us not to eat of it, and I will not disobey God.'
"And God called to the man and the woman and said to them, 'Because you have hearkened to My word and not disobeyed My command, I shall reward you greatly.' To the man, He said, 'You will never have to work again. Spend all your days in idle contentment, with food growing all around you.' To the woman, He said, 'You will bear children without pain and you will raise them without pain. They will need nothing from you. Children will not cry when their parents die, and parents will not cry when their children die.' To both of them, He said, 'For the rest of your lives, you will have full bellies and contented smiles. You will never cry and you will never laugh. You will never long for something you don't have, and you will never receive something you always wanted.'
"And the man and the woman grew old together in the garden, eating daily from the Tree of Life and having many children. And the grass grew high around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil until it disappeared from view, for there was no one to tend to it."
