Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sourcesBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sources
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends
In one of the writings of the disciples of Tao-tse, the tradition takes
a fuller form. Kung-Kung, a bad spirit, enraged at having been overcome
in war, gave such a blow against one of the pillars of the sky with his
head that he broke it; and the vault of heaven fell in, and a tremendous
flood overwhelmed the earth. But Niu-Noa overcame the water with wood,
and made a boat to save himself, which could go far; and he polished a
stone of five colours—the rainbow—and therewith he fastened the heavens,
and lifted them up on a tortoise-shell. Then he killed the black dragon
Kong-Kong, and choked the holes in heaven with the ashes of a
pumpkin.[224] In the story of Jao there is also a faint trace of his
connection with the rainbow, for he is said to have eyebrows coloured
and shaped like rainbows.[225]
The Kamskadales say, “that in the remote ages when their great ancestor
and God, Kutka, lived in Kamschatka, there was a mighty deluge. Many men
were drowned therein, but some tried to save themselves in boats, but
the waves overwhelmed them. Those who were saved were rescued on great
rafts made of trees bound together, to which they retreated, taking food
and their property with them. And that they might not drift out to sea,
they anchored themselves with great stones, which they tied to the edges
and let down into the water. And when the flood abated, they rested on
the top of a high mountain.”[226]
A Lapp tradition is that God once submerged the world, saving only one
brother and sister alive, whom He placed on Mount Passeware. When all
the water disappeared, the children separated to wander over the earth,
and see whether they alone remained alive. They met after three years,
and then separated again, for they recognized one another as brother and
sister. After three years they met, but turned their backs on one
another once more for the same reason. Again they met after the lapse of
three years, and again they parted; but when they met again, after three
years’ further absence, they no longer recognized each other, and so
they took one another in marriage; and of them all generations of men
are come.[227]
Among the Kelts, the Deluge formed a prominent feature, and the ark was
connected with their most sacred religious rites.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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