Abel and Cain have each made an offering to God. Abel's is accepted, Cain's rejected. In a fit of jealousy, Cain murders his brother. When God asks where Abel has got to, Cain replies tetchily, "Am I my brother's keeper?" God discovers the murder, and Cain is punished. He will live, but he will be forever marked, and condemned to wander the earth.
In the late José Saramago's final novel, Cain's wanderings take him through some of the greatest hits of the Pentateuch. He appears, Zelig-like, at the walls of Jericho just before the trumpets sound, he's there among the impatient crowds waiting for Moses to descend from Sinai. When Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, Cain is standing there beside him. Actually, it's Cain who saves Isaac's life, whatever you may have been told by less reliable sources.
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