Story Cards for ‘The Flood’ Mythology Resource: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

Old Testament, Book of Genesis

In the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, when Noah is 500 years old, he and his three sons see the people of the world becoming violent and wicked. God warns that he will send a flood that will cover the whole world and Noah should build an ark to save his family and two of each animal. He asks Noah to take his time building the ark – 120 years – so that the sinful people in the world have a chance to change their ways. They never do, and finally, the flood comes and Noah takes his family and the animals inside as it rains for forty days and nights. When the rain stops, Noah lets a dove go and when it returns with an olive leaf in its mouth, he knows land is un-covered. When the flood waters recede completely, the whole world has been wiped clean and Noah and his family start over.

Africa: Rukwa Region

(Oral folklore of Soutwest Tanzania)

The rivers began flooding. God told two men to go into a ship, taking with them all sorts of seed and animals. The flood rose, covering the mountains. Later, to check whether the waters had dried up, the man sent out a dove, and it came back to the ship. He waited and sent out a hawk, which did not return because the waters had dried. The men then disembarked with the animals and seeds.

Source: Gaster, Theodor H. Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament, Harper & Row, New York, 1969.

India: Manu and Matsya

Matsya (a version of Lord Vishnu as a fish) warns Manu (a human) about a terrible flood and orders him to collect all the grains of the world in a boat. In some forms of the story, all living creatures are also to be saved in the boat. When the flood destroys the world, Manu survives by boarding the ark, which Matsya pulls to safety.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flood_myths

China: Gun-Yu myth

Under the reign of Emperor Yao, a great flood begins of natural causes. Both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River overflow for two generations. The emperor asks a man named Gun to help. Gun uses special soil to build dams and banks to hold back the water – but it doesn’t work. Later, Gun’s son Yu tries to help by digging drainage channels and hauling away mud. In the end, Yu succeeds in stopping the flood waters and becomes a heroic Emperor of China, beginning the Xia Dynasty.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_(China)#Overview

Australia, Maung Speakers’ Myth(Goulburn Islands, Arnhem Land)

People dividing fish always gave the man Crow, the poor quality ones. Crow cut down a big paperbark tree, which fell across a creek. Crow sat on the tree crying out, "Waag. . . Waag!" As he did, the creek grew wider and wider, dividing the island into two islands. Crow turned into a bird and flew over the people. The splash from the tree caused the water to rise, and the people, who were all on the bank of the creek, all drowned. On hearing what happened, Blanket Lizard swam towards South Goulburn Island in search of his wife, but halfway across he drowned and turned into a reef.

Source: Berndt, Ronald M. and Berndt, Catherine. The Speaking Land, Inner Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont, 1994.

Ireland: The Book of Invasions

Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions) is a collection of poems stories that claims to be a history of Ireland from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages. According to this book, the first people to arrive in Ireland are led by Cessair. They are told to go to the western edge of the world to escape the oncoming Flood. They set out in three ships but when they land in Ireland, forty days before the Flood, two of the ships are lost. The only survivors are Cessair, forty-nine other women, and three men: Fintan mac Bóchra, Bith and Ladra. However, Bith and Ladra soon die and when the Flood comes, Fintán is the only one to survive. He becomes a salmon and later an eagle and a hawk, living for 5,500 years after the Flood, whence he becomes a man again and recounts Ireland's history.

Source: The Lebor Gabála Érenn at a Glance: an Overview of the 11th Century Irish Book of Invasions” Lloyd D. Graham

Huichol People of Western Mexico

Grandmother Nakawe, goddess of the earth, told a farmer that a flood was coming in five days. Per her instructions, he built a box from the fig tree and entered it with five grains of corn and beans of each color, fire with five squash stems to feed it, and a black dog. She closed him in and caulked the cracks, and he floated in the flood for five years. Finally, the box came to rest on a mountain near Santa Cantarina. The world was still under water, but parrots and macaws pulled up mountains and created valleys to drain the water, and the land dried. The man lived with the dog in a cave. Every evening he would return home from work in the fields to find dinner prepared. He spied on the dog one day, and saw that she took off her skin and became a woman to do the work. He threw her skin into the fire. She whined like a dog, but he poured water on her, and she remained a woman. The farmer married the woman and they had a family.

Source: Horcasitas, Fernando, 1953. "An Analysis of the Deluge Myth in Mesoamerica", in Dundes.