The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1906-06-19
STORY OF THE FLOOD
THERE ARE MANY AND VARlrD YER.
SiONS Of THE DELUGE

Oit VI lut must il1WtIlNl anu NlNlu |
descriptive portions of the book OF |
Genesis il that devoted To the wonder. |
ful story of the dclugc. To-r,hr. with |
the accounts of ACum's fall. the slly
lug o. Abel aud the turning Of Lots |
wife into pillar Of salt. every one
remembers from childhood how Noah |
was warned Of the doom impending
over the children Of men and how he
constructed huge arb in which hc did
live. himself and his family and two
OF every beast " the field aud fowl OF
the mir for the space Of 100 days. or
until the waters subsidized aud the dry
land appeared But the Biblical recital
OF this terrible visitation OF divine
wrath is by no means the only one.
In fact. the most skcptically inclined
must believe that something uf the sort
actually occurred long ago. for IL has
been pcrpctuntcd not only ln ihc Tai
mud and Koran. but IN The legends of
almost every nation and race tllt ever
lived on the face of the earth. including
the Chinese. the ancient Aztccs OF
/ Mexico. the Indian tribes Of North aud
South America and even the savages
OF Africa
/ The story. of course. varies material
/ ~ in the multitudiuous traditions hut
/ the glst or .t remains substantially the
same namely. that the earth was once
I visited by great Hood In which nearly
every living thing was overwhelmed
and lost Thus In the Koran we read
/ that Noah constructed the ark with
divine assistance and was rallied at for
/ his pains 10y the wicked. When the
time prescribed for the punishment OF
mankind arrived. water was seen TO
flow from the burning oven OF Noah's
wife, and Immediately gll the veins
and arteries OF the earth broke and
spurtcd out water.
Noah was then admonishcd In these
words: Take and bring into the ark
two couples N every kind OF animal.
male and female. with all your family,
except him who has been condemned
by your mouth. and receive the faith
ful aud even the unbclievng but few
only will enter" The Koran also says
that the ark was built In two years
and that Il contained three stories, the
upper one for the birds. the middle one
for the men and the provisions and the
hold for the beasts. Canaan, the son
OF Ham. refused 60 be saved. There
fore Noah cursed him, and his postcri-
" became black and were enslavcd
The Pcrslans assert that Ham incurred
hls fathers malcdlctlon as well. When
-. usslH TOD
on the top OF Mount DJondi (AraraO,
after having made the circuit OF the
world. Tabari says that two sorts OF
animals left the ark which had not en-
tered 1.-THE pig ana the cat. Concern
ing the latter we have this interesting
piece OF Information: When the rats be-
gan TO make trouble the voyagcrs com
planned to Noah. Whcreupon the patri-
arch passed his hand down the bhcl,
OF the lion, who sneczcd. and the cat
lcapcd out OF It's nose. And the eat ate
the rats"
According 60 the Talmud. Noah aud
his family and one pair OF each kind OF
beast were Co be saved In the ark. but
OF every clean beast seven were 20 en-
ter In. The rhinoccros. however. had
10 be left out, for the simple but sufii
Client reason that It's neck alone was
three miles long. Nevertheless all tbs
rabblnic writer's agree that the rh'
noceros survived the flood: hence II Il
reasonable 10 suppose that the hug
beast was taken In tow by rope at
tachcd 20 It's horn. Some authorities
likewise declare that Noah EXTENDED
his hospitality 20 another outsider II
the shape OF Og. the giant, who climb
? ed on the roof OF the ark and receive,
= his daily food through hole bored II
the side OF the vessel.
= Ararat has been known under thl
] name for 1900 years. und an Armenian
writer declares that an entire countr,
was so called after Arai the Fair, al
ancient Armenian king. who live
about 1850 II. &. He fell In blood
battle with the Babylonlans, and IN
. scene OF his death was thencefort
known as Aral-Arat. or the Fail o
ArIl. Josephus refers to the mountai
= as NaZuana and declares that the r,
b, mains OF the ark were there TO be see
= carefully preserved,
- Almost all the Aslatlc tradition
closely resemble the Biblical accoun
Bcrosus I'm his Chaldee history B. {
. 2G0l speaks OF ten kings, who appeo
TO correspond TO the ten patrIarchs I
4 Genesis before the flood. The last G
- these kings was called Nlsuthrus, 81
rosus relates that "INronos appeared
Nlsuthrus in dream and warned hi
that all men would be destroyed by
Il deluge on the 18th of the month Da'
$ sios and commanded him 10 writ
y down all the learning and science {
J. men and TO hide II In the sun eli
II Siparls and then to build ship an
:, enter II along with his family and rel
h tives and nearest friends and TO tai
II into Il with him food and drink an
Is beasts and winged fowl. When he WI
Ia ..tr,I ,,.lItha,. 10 ,,rap hnut ~ gufl