Join us at the campfire for tales from around the world, told by storytellers of all backgrounds and creeds. From the heros and heroines of old, let us relearn and rediscover the wisdom of our ancestors. Shhh..the story begins..

Many nations of the world have their own versions of the story of Noah and the Great Flood--the ancient Babylonians, the Chinese, the Hebrews and the people of India--but, in Europe, the story of Noah contains incidents that cannot be found in any biblical account. The Europeans tell of the destruction of many strange and exotic creatures, the winged griffin and the shaggy mastodon, for example, that never managed to reach the safety of the ark. Some because they lived in such remote regions that they never heard Noah's warnings and others who foolishly declined to join Noah, such as the magical unicorn. For those animals who heeded the words of Noah, however, the Great Flood was not the herald of annihilation, but the song of a new beginning.

It is told that the Devil was angry with Noah for calling the animals to safety and that he would have preferred to see all creatures meet their fate in a watery grave, so he made it his business to sabotage the ark. Changing himself into the shape of a tiny and timid mouse, the Devil scampered up the gangplank with the other rodents, dodging the now fast-falling raindrops.

For forty days and forty nights, the rain fell and water covered the earth. Still the ark floated--and did so for another 150 days--as Noah and his family prayed for salvation. The animals were cramped and restless in their temporary quarters below deck but, obeying the command from Noah that if they were to survive, then they must be tolerant and merciful to each other, they huddled together--each offering what warmth and comfort it could.

Noah had made provision for the long journey by loading many sacks of grain and these were lined along the wooden walls of the ark. Unseen and unheard, the Devil, still in the form of a small mouse, took up residence behind one of the sacks of grain and began to chew at the timbers of the ark. Day after day, the mouse nibbled and gnawed at the hull, the pile of wood-shavings around him growing larger. He knew that, with patience, he could eventually chew a big enough hole so that the water would come gushing in and the ark would sink. One day, however, Noah was tending to the animals in the bowels of his ship and heard the muffled munchings of the mouse. Noah threw aside the heavy sacks of grain and saw the mouse-Devil up to his grey haunches in sawdust as water dripped in through the hull.

With an angry cry, Noah pulled off the thick fur glove that he was wearing and hurled it at the mouse. As it flew through the air, God turned it into a four-legged, long-tailed creature which was covered with fur--the world's first cat. With a furious meow, the cat leapt upon the mouse, grabbed him with her sharp teeth, shook him hard and then promptly swallowed him. Noah was very grateful to the cat but the animal had violated the law of the ark--that all animals should live together peacefully and shed no blood--and he had no alterna- tive but to carry the unfortunate cat on deck and drop her into the choppy water.

God, looking down upon the incident, could not let the cat drown and He showed her how to hold her head above the water and swim. God then spoke to Noah and told him that the mouse was no ordinary rodent but the Devil in disguise and that Noah should bring the cat back to the safety of the ark. As he was bidden, Noah threw a rope out to the cat and hauled her back on board. Once on dry ground, the cat shook herself vigorously and then moved with elegance across the wooden deck and found herself a place in the sun where she could dry her waterlogged fur. From that moment on, every cat ever born would have an instinctive hatred of water and would forever hunt for mice in the hopes of catching the Devil. Also, each one was destined to have eyes that would gleam in the dark, because all cats would have a little bit of Satan in them.

Noah now turned his attention to repairing the hole in the hull. One of the snakes on board offered to plug the gap temporarily with his triangular head until a new piece of wood could be prepared to replace the damaged plank. When this had been done and the ark no longer leaked water, the snake, relieved from his post, demanded payment. Noah, wishing to be fair, asked the snake to name his reward. The serpent declared that he was very fond of human blood and demanded that he be given one of Noah's sons to feast upon. The serpent lispingly explained that this should be an easy sacrifice since Noah had other sons and would hardly miss one. Noah, of course, refused and then noticed that there was a menacing glint in the reptile's small eyes and it was twitching it's fangs threaten- ingly. Immediately, Noah raised his staff and delivered a lethal blow to the serpent's head.

Noah was unsure of the powers of this mysterious creature, even if it were dead, and decided to cut the snake into tiny pieces and burn them. When all that remained of the snake were ashes, Noah gathered them up and threw them out to sea, but the wind blew them back at him--transformed into gnats and mosquitoes and horseflies, and all manner of other insects that suck the blood from both beast and man. Thus, the snake, in the end, received its reward.

Shortly after this, the birds on board became very restless and the magpies, whose chattering had almost driven every other being on the ark to distraction, refused to remain any longer on the ship. They swooped off over the still turbulent waters, squawking at the bodies of the dead floating on the surface, and since that time, magpies have always been considered omens of ill fortune.

The next birds to leave were the kingfishers--but this time it was upon the instruction of Noah who sent them to see if the waters had abated. The birds soared upwards towards the heavens, higher and higher. They soared so high that their plumage became colored red from the rays of the sun and blue from the glorious and brilliant sky, but they brought back no news of dry land.

Noah next dispatched a raven, but the bird never returned to the ark, preferring to prey upon the floating corpses of the victims of the flood and, as a mark of God's disapproval, was forced to live on carrion for evermore. Finally, Noah sent out a dove. In due time, the dove returned to the ark carrying an olive leaf in its beak and Noah then knew that the waters of the flood were receding. In honor of the dove, God granted that it would always have a plumage of pure white and that its feathers would never molt.

Noah steered the ark in the direction from which the dove had returned and eventually found dry land--the long voyage was over and the world could now begin again.