The Gates Of Eden

He said to them: Do people eat bread of gold? They said to him: But if it was bread you wanted, was there no bread to eat in your own place, that you took up and came here? When he was departing and going away, he wrote upon the gate of the city: I, Alexander of Macedon, was a fool until I came to the country of Africa of the women, and I learned counsel from women. When he was traveling and going, he sat at a certain spring, eating bread. He had in his hand salted fish; while they were rinsing them, a fragrance fell upon them. He said: Learn from this that this spring comes from the Garden of Eden. Some say: He took from those waters and dashed them on his face. Some say: He went up along its whole length until he reached the entrance of the Garden of Eden. He raised his voice: Open the gate for me! They said to him: "This is the gate of the LORD" (Psalms 118:20). He said to them: I too am a king, I am considered important; give me something. They gave him a single eyeball. He brought it, he weighed against it all his gold and silver together, and it did not equal its weight. He said to the Rabbis: What is this? They said: It is the eyeball of a human being of flesh and blood, which is never satisfied. He said to them: From where do you know that this is so? They took a little dust and covered it, and immediately it was balanced in weight, as it is written: "Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied" (Proverbs 27:20).