Book Four of John Milton's Paradise Lost described Satan sneaking into Paradise.
It was truly a lovely place. Even Satan, with poison in his heart, liked it. All manner of brightly colored flowers and fruits grew across that fertile land, more splendid than the sunset. A river ran through Eden, and countless streams watered the entire garden.
Birds of every kind answered one another in song. Two tall, graceful figures stood in the garden. One was known to Satan—the radiant shadow of the Creator. The other was soft and charming, with blue-violet hair parted at her forehead and falling in strands to her slender waist like grapevines.
Her expression seemed obedient yet defiant, loving yet faintly resentful. She walked hand in hand with the Creator's shadow, then sat beside a clear spring and spoke to him tenderly in private.
They were Adam and Eve, the keepers of Paradise. After their work was done, they could enjoy the cool breeze and pluck fresh fruit from the branches to taste. Other than the two of them, there were only the beasts of the earth around them. Lions teased lambs with their paws, while bears, tigers, leopards, and lynxes played freely before them.
But what did the lions in Paradise eat? What did those carnivorous beasts rely on to fill their bellies?
People believed lions were merciful. But were they really? Lions and tigers were such brutal, savage beasts.
If we spent time studying a lion's bones and muscles, its bodily structure, as William Blake studied The Tyger, we would discover the order, symmetry, and wisdom surpassing all things contained within these "works." Every part served its purpose in the whole. Its heart beat like a hammer, its muscles and tendons were fierce and powerful, and its entire body possessed astonishing balance.
Humans,