Preface.

is well-versed in hidden words / and
knows how to solve riddles / she
recognizes signs and wonders beforehand /
and knows how things shall come to pass
in the future.

Our first father Adam possessed
this treasure perfectly
before the Fall / which is evident
from the fact that after God the
Lord brought all the animals of the field
and all the birds under the
heavens before him / he was
able to give each one its
proper name / which belonged
to it according to its nature. This refers to the "Language of Adam," a concept popular in the 1600s suggesting that before the Fall, humans understood the "signatures" of all things and could speak a language that perfectly described the essence of reality.

Although now, through the tragic
Fall into sin / this glorious
jewel of wisdom was for- original: "verscher-" — likely "verscherzt," meaning forfeited or lost through one's own fault.

Preface, Adam, Fall, Sin, Jewel of Wisdom, Nature, Riddle