God made Adam out of dust,
But thought it best to make me first.
So I was made before the man,
To answer God's most holy plan.

This body He did make complete,
But without legs or arms or feet;
My ways and actions He did not control,
But I was born without a soul.

A living being I became;
'Twas Adam gave me my name;
When from his presence I withdrew,
I no more of Adam ever knew.

I did my Maker's laws obey;
From them I never went astray.
Thousands of miles I roamed in fear,
And seldom on the earth appear.

But God did something in me see,
And put a living soul in me,
A soul of me my God did claim,
And took from me that soul again.

And when from me that soul had fled,
I was the same as when first made;
And without hands, or feet, or soul,
I travel now from pole to pole.

I labor hard both day and night;
To fallen men I give great light;
Thousands of people, young and old,
May by my death great light behold.

To heaven I shall never go,
Nor to the grave, nor Hell below,
Now as these lines my friend you read,
Just search the Scriptures with great heed,
And if my name you do not find,
It's very strange; I guess you're blind.

More than a century ago, there resided in Beverly, Massachusetts, an elderly lady by the name of Lucy King, who was a student of the Scriptures. In the neighboring town of Taunton lived a merchant who had a reputation for successfully answering the most perplexing riddles.

One day, he offered a prize to Miss King if she could compose a riddle which he could not answer, the subject being taken from the Bible. She created the riddle shown above and won the prize.