Preserved in the Arabic pseudepigraphal traditions of the fifth century a.d., Adam and Eve retreat to the cold floor of the Cave of Treasures. They wrap their bodies in heavy animal hides to block the biting wind. A guarded fear settles over them. Their limbs ache from the endless labor of a fallen earth. The God of All Comfort speaks into the hollow cavern. This divine voice drops a heavy blanket of quiet over their shivering frames.
The exiled man and woman huddle in the mountain to escape the hostile terrain. Outside the cavern, the earth yields sharp thistles and hard ground. Subsistence living requires breaking the soil with sharp flints and bare hands. They mourn the loss of soft garden fruit. Hunger forces them to gather bitter desert figs. The physical shock of this new world drives them to seek shelter under tons of solid rock. These harsh realities strip away all illusions of ease.
The Cave of Treasures functions as a heavy stone vault for human grief. It translates the massive loss of Eden into the immediate need for a windbreak and a dry place to sleep. Physical suffering dictates their daily routine. The mountain offers a crude barrier against the elements.
Survival begins when a man stops looking at a locked gate and starts hunting for a dry cave.
The heavy garments of skin and the cracked flint stones remain buried in the dirt. They mark the exact location where human labor replaced divine provision.