Using Primary and Secondary Sources

The Flood Story The tale of a devastating flood appears among the legends of ancient peoples throughout the world. In some versions, the story of the flood serves to explain how the world came to be. In others, the flood is heaven’s punishment for evil deeds committed by humans.

A PRIMARY SOURCE B PRIMARY SOURCE C PRIMARY SOURCE The Torah The of The Fish Incarnation Only one man, , found favor in In this Mesopotamian legend, of Vishnu the Hebrew God Yahweh’s eyes. Utnapishtim, like Noah, escapes a The Hindu god Vishnu, in his first worldwide flood by building an ark. Ea, earthly incarnation, took the form of And God said to Noah, “I have the god of wisdom, warns Utnapishtim Matsya, the fish, and saved humankind. determined to make an end of all flesh, of the coming catastrophe in a dream. for the earth is filled with violence One day, as the sage Manu was because of them. . . . Make yourself an O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara- praying at the river Ganges, a small fish ark of cypress wood. . . . And of every Tutu; tear down your house and build asked for his protection. Manu put the living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring a boat, abandon possessions and look fish in an earthen jar, but soon the fish two of every kind into the ark . . . they for life. . . . was too big for the jar. So Manu put it shall be male and female. “. . . I loaded into [the boat] all that I had into the river, but soon it outgrew the The rain fell on the earth forty days of gold and of living things, my family, river. So Manu put the fish in the and forty nights. . . . At the end of forty my kin, the beast of the field both wild ocean. . . . days Noah opened the window of the and tame. . . . The fish told Manu there would be ark . . . and . . . sent out the dove . . . For six days and six nights the winds a great deluge [flood]. He advised and the dove came back . . . and there blew, torrent and tempest and flood Manu to build a large boat and take . . . in its beak was a freshly plucked olive overwhelmed the world. . . . When the the seeds of various kinds of plants, leaf; so Noah knew that the waters seventh day dawned the storm from and one of each type of animal. When had subsided from the earth. . . . the south subsided, the sea grew calm, the deluge came, the fish said, he Then God said to Noah, “Go out of the flood was stilled; I looked at the would take the ark . . . to safety. the ark. . . . Bring out with you every face of the world and there was Sure enough, when the deluge living thing that is with you. . . . I silence, all mankind was turned to clay occurred, the fish was there. Manu tied establish my covenant with you, that ...... I opened a hatch and the light fell the boat to the horns of the fish. . . . The never again shall there be a flood to on my face. Then I bowed low, I sat fish then pulled the boat through the destroy the earth.” down and I wept, the tears streamed waters until it reached a mountain peak. down my face, for on every side was the waste of water.

D PRIMARY SOURCE Anonymous This art dates from the fifth 1. Based on Source A, what promise century A.D. It shows Noah does God make to mankind? and his ark in the Hebrew 2. What are some of the differences flood story. In the picture, among the gods in Sources A, B, Noah is welcoming back and C? the dove he had sent out 3. What are some of the similarities from the ark at the end of 40 among the flood stories in days. The dove is carrying in Sources A, B, and C? its beak an olive leaf. 4. In Source D, what is the dove bringing to Noah and what might it represent? 83