so impatient, man

God  left the work to his hands,

which of course are very wise themselves, and although he was extremely curious to see what man might look like, he continued to gaze

fixedly down at the earth, where now, as if out of spite, not a leaflet

would stir. In order to have at least a little pleasure after all this

trouble, he had bidden his hands to show him man first before they

handed him over to life. Repeatedly he asked, as children ask when

they play hide-and-seek,   “Ready”?   But in answer he heard the kneading

of his hands and he waited. It seemed very long to him.

"Then suddenly he saw something falling through space, something

dark and apparently coming from quite near him. Filled with evil

foreboding, he called to his hands. They appeared, all blotched with,

clay, hot and trembling.

"'Where is man?' God thundered at them.

"The right hand flew at the left:   'You dropped him!'

" 'Excuse me,' countered the left, provoked, 'you insisted on doing it

all by yourself, you wouldn't even let me have anything to say.'

" 'But you ought to have held him.' And the right hand drew back as

if to strike, but then thought better of it, and both hands said together,

drowning each other's voices:

" 'He was so impatient, man. He was in such a hurry to live. It is

not our fault ; really, we are both innocent.'

"But God was seriously angry. He pushed both hands away, for they

blocked the earth from his sight. 'I have finished with you from now

on;   go and do as you like!'

"And that is what his hands have been trying to do ever since, but

whatever they start, they can only make a beginning. Without God

there is no perfection. And so at last they grew tired of it. Now they

are on their knees all day long, doing penance—at least, so it is said.   To

us, however, it appears as though God were resting, because he is angry

with his hands.   It is still the seventh day.

Stories of God - Rainer Maria Rilke