Before Genesis, before Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian sage stood at the threshold of eternity. This is The Myth of Adapa, one of the world's oldest surviving spiritual stories, recovered from cuneiform tablets in Egypt and the ruins of Nineveh. It tells of Adapa of Eridu—priest, fisherman, and possessor of flawless wisdom—who breaks the wing of the South Wind and is summoned before the sky-god Anu. Warned by his patron Ea to refuse the bread and water he is offered, Adapa follows the counsel faithfully, only to discover he has turned away the bread and water of eternal life. Part fable about obedience, part meditation on wisdom and mortality, the tale asks what we are willing to give up when a god tells us not to taste what we are offered. This edition renders the ancient fragments in clear, flowing English, faithful in spirit to the original's meaning, with notes, glossary, and encouragement for reading. Part of The World Scriptures Library.