Having been banished from the Garden of Eden, the first humans must work for their food, tilling soil which has been cursed by God. Here Adam is seen digging the ground, with the help of Death, who will be the ever-present companion of Man. In the distance, Eve is seen breast-feeding her first born child, the first human born of human parents, and weaving. One of the chief consequences of the Fall is that humans became mortal. They were no longer residents of Eden, a sort of Heaven on Earth. Now, they were subject to the same cycle of life and death as in nature. The first birth also signalled the beginning of the Dance of Death, as each human would eventually be led off on his or her final dance.
Death is shown plowing the fields alongside Adam, but the crop that he harvests is not food but the life of humans, hence Death's other name: The Grim Reaper.
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Holbein - the Dance of Death.
