Alanabit wrote: "Gerald Hoffnung,as he has acknowledged here, did the original sketch".

The original? I think you'll find that on the wall of the antechamber of the Great Pyramid of Cheops is a version of this story in hieroglyphs. Also, there's a version in early Oggam script scratched into the lintel of the entrance to Maes Howe in Orkney.

However, for the earliest known version of this story, I draw your attention to the book of Genesis in the King Jim Bible* which starts, "And lo! Eve sayeth unto Adam, 'In the tree there are many apples and I would eat them. Fetcheth a rope and bucket and thou canst pick them and lower them safely to the ground without thou bruiseth them', and Adam sayeth unto her, 'Give it a rest,' but she persisteth, and Adam saw that he would no peace have until he picketh the apples..."