God was startled. He had caused the angel to sin, for the latter had just sung a lie. Abruptly, God the Father looked down. And of course, something had already occurred down there that was going to be very difficult to make up for. A little bird was flying back and forth over the earth as though in fear, and God was not able to help it back home, because He had not seen what forest the poor creature had come out of. He became very angry and said: “The birds are supposed to stay where I put them.” But then He remembered that, at the request of the angels, He had endowed them with wings, so that on earth too there would be something like the angels; and this circumstance upset Him even more.

Now, for such states of mind there is nothing so healing as work. And busy as He was with the fabrication of human beings, God quickly regained His happy state of mind. He had the eyes of the angel before Him as mirrors, and in them He took the measure of His own features and slowly and carefully formed, on a ball in His lap, the first face. He succeeded with the forehead. Much harder for Him was to make the two nostrils symmetrical. He bent ever further over this task, until there was again a movement of air round about Him. He looked up. The same angel was circling Him. This time no hymns were to be heard, for the youth had lost his voice as a result of his lie, but by looking at his mouth God could tell he was still singing, “Thou who seest everything.” At once Saint Nicholas, who stood particularly high in God’s esteem, approached Him and said through his great beard, “Thy lions are resting peacefully; they are very arrogant creatures, I must say! But a little dog is running around on the rim of the earth, a terrier; seest Thou, he’s about to fall off.” And in fact God did make out something bright and white, like a small light dancing to and fro in the vicinity of Scandinavia, where it is already so frightfully round. And He got very angry and told Saint Nicholas in no uncertain terms that if he wasn’t satisfied with His lions, he should try making some himself. Whereupon Saint Nicholas departed from heaven, slamming the door and causing a star to fall right on the terrier’s head.

Now the catastrophe was complete, and the dear Lord had to admit that He alone was to blame for everything, and He resolved nevermore to lift His gaze from the earth. And that is the way it has been. He left His work to His hands, which are of course also wise, and although He was highly curious to find out what the human being was going to end up looking like, He stared down unremittingly at the earth, on which now, as if to spite Him, not even a tiny leaf seemed to want to stir.