World Wide Flood Stories—Part 2

By Rebekah Miller

I had to write a research paper on "World Wide Flood Stories" for a science class this past school year. These are some of the stories I found.

Scandinavian:

Vili, Oden and Ve fought a great ice giant named Ymir and they killed him.  The water from his wounds drowned most of the Rime Giants, but Bergelmir the giant escaped, with his wife and children, on a boat. Then Ymir's body became the world we live on.

Middle Eastern:

Generally, the earth was originally covered with water, and now there is a layer of water under the earth. Hebrews believe that there is a layer of water above the earth.

Southwest Tanzania:

Their story is similar to the one in the Bible. Yahweh (God) sent two men into a ship and had them take all sorts of seeds and animals. The flood covered the mountains. Later, to see if the water had all dried up they sent out a dove, and it came back to them. They waited for a while and then sent out a hawk but the hawk did not return. The water had dried up, so the men took all the animals and seeds out along with themselves.

Sumerian:

A god named Enki warns Ziusudra that the gods are going to destroy mankind in a flood. Enki tells Ziusudra to build a large boat. Ziusudra is left to repopulate the earth. After seven days the flood Ziusundra made sacrifices to An (sky-god) and Enlil (chief of the gods) and Ziusundra is given eternal life by An and Enlil.

Mi'kmaq:

In Mi'kmaq mythology evil and wickedness cause each other to kill each other, which caused the creator-sun-god to cry so much that it became a flood. Everyone tried to escape by going in bark canoes, but only one man and one woman survive the flood.

Hawaii:

Hawaiians believe that after the death of the first man the world became wicked. One man, Nu-u, survived. He made a canoe with a house on it. He took his family and animals in it; the water covered the whole earth and killed everyone that was not in his canoe/house boat.

China:

A man named Fuhi, his wife, three daughters and three sons escaped the great flood. Everyone else died.

Hindu:

The first human named Manu had found a small fish in his wash water. The fish wanted Manu to protect him from the larger fish. For reward, Manu was to be saved from the flood.

He kept the fish as it grew, and he had to make bigger reservoirs for it. It grew so big that he took it and put it in an ocean. The fish warned him of a coming flood and told him to build a big boat. When the flood came the fish appeared and Manu tied the boat craft to the fish’s horn. The fish led Manu to a mountain and told him to tie the craft to a tree.

He survived the flood, and made an offering of clarified butter, sour milk, whey and curds. A woman arose calling herself Manu's daughter. Whatever blessings he invoked through her were granted to him, and through her the human race prospered.

Celtic:

Heaven and Earth were giants. Heaven lay upon Earth so that their children would be in darkness. One of the sons got together some of his brothers to cut up Heaven. From his skull the firmament was made. His blood caused the flood which killed all humans except for a single pair. They were saved in a ship made by Titans. The water settled between hollows in the oceans.

Welsh:

The lake of Llion burst, which flooded the earth. Dwyfon and Dwyfach were in a mast-less ship with all the animal kinds. They landed in Prydain (Britain) and it is there that they repopulated the earth.

Yoruba (southwest Nigeria):

There was a god named Ifa, which grew tired of living on earth, and so went to dwell in the firmament. Without him assisting them, mankind could not interpret the desires of gods. One of the gods destroyed everyone with a great flood.

Cheyenne (Minnesota):

One winter there was a flood including earthquakes and volcanoes. The people spent the winter in caves.