The Serpent Speaks

Genesis 3:1 - Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

I wonder if Adam and Eve could talk with all of the animals a la Dr. Dolittle. C. S. Lewis has the animals talking in The Magician's Nephew, which is a story about the creation of Narnia. I wonder if Lewis thought Adam and Eve could speak to the animals at the beginning.

Of course, the conversation here is really between Eve and Satan. I won't read too much into the silence of Scripture, but it doesn't seem as if Eve was surprised that the snake could talk. This is mainly what leads me to wonder whether talking to the animals was commonplace.

Then again, everything was probably still quite new to her. Maybe nothing and everything surprised her.

I wonder how long after they were created that this conversation took place.