Genesis: The Rejected Canon

by Mike Resnick

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And God said "Let there be light," and there was light.

And, five days later, after some heavy-duty creating, God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God then created Eden, and said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

And when Adam awoke, he saw his helper, and said, "You are now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh", and together, they went hand in hand through the Garden of Eden. And Adam turned to his helper and said, "My name is Adam."

And his helper smiled coyly and replied, "My name is Raoul."

* * * *

God's next attempt to populate the world was with tap-dancing giant sloths. It didn't work out a hell of a lot better.

--The End --