God granted his request, and shewed him the rain-bow as a token of His love. God gat it a token of luuen, Taunede him in ðe wa[l]kene a-buuen 636 The rain-bow is called red and blue. Rein-bowe, men cleped[115] reed and blo; The blue denotes the water that drowned all flesh. ðe blo tokeneð de[116] wat_er_es wo, ðat iſ wið-uten and is gon; The red betokeneth the destruction of the world by fire. ðe rede wid-innen[117] toknet on 640 wreche ðat ſal get wurðen ſent, wan al ðis werld wurðe brent; And al-ſo hege ðe lowe ſal gon, So ðe flod flet de dunes on; 644 fowerti ger or domeſ-dai, ðiſ token no man ne ſen mai. From Noah and his three sons all mankind have come. Of[118] noe ſiðen an iſ ðre ſunen, ben boren alle ðe in werlde wunen, 648 Before his death his family were widely spread. And or he waſ on werlde led, His kinde waſ wel wide ſpred; Al it iſ writen ic tellen mai Of his kin bi hiſ liue dai; 652 [Fol. 13b.] They numbered, excluding women and children, 24,000 stalworth men. vten childre and vten wi_m_men, wel fowre and .xx. ðhuſent men woren ſtalwurði boren bi tale, wið-uten wif-kin and childre ſmale; 656 .ix. hundred ger and fifti told, or or he ſtarf, noe waſ old. Nimrod had dread of water, so he advised his followers to make a tower high and strong. Nembrot gat hiſe feres red, for ðat he hadde of water dred, 660 To maken a tur, wel heg & ſtrong, Of tigel and ter, for water-gong; Seventy-two men were employed about it. Twelwe and ſexti men woren ðor-to, [114] _read_ wið [115] _read_ clepeð [116] _read_ ðe [117] _read_ wið-innen. [118] Oſ MS. CONFUSION OF TONGUES. ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY.