MORE WORLD FLOOD FABLES

Hawaii:
    A flood killed all beings except for Nuu and his family, who repopulated the earth when their boat landed atop Mauna Kea (where, presumably, it can still be seen today - not really, I just made that up).

The Andaman Islanders (Islands off the coast of India):
    Their Supreme Being, Puluga, who lives in the sky, created the world and Man. But Man began to forget his creator, so Puluga became annoyed and sent a flood which covered the entire earth and wiped out the Human race. However, four people escaped, so Puluga had mercy on them.

The Palau Islanders:
    Before Humans, one of the Kaliths (deities) visited an unfriendly village and was killed by its inhabitants. His friends, searching for him, were met with unkindness, except from a woman, Milathk, who told them of the murder. They avenged the death by flooding the village and told Milathk to save herself on a raft, but Milathk drowned in the flood. She was resurrected by the Kaliths and became the mother of Mankind.

Tahitian:
    A sea god, angered by a fisherman who had lowered hooks that got caught in his hair, caused a flood which covered all but the tops of the mountains.

Samoan:
    In a battle between Fire and Water, offspring of the primeval octopus (I'm not making this up --), everything was overwhelmed by a "boundless sea," and the god, Tangaloa had the task of recreating the world.

The Wiranggu (Australian Aboriginal):
    Djunban was hunting kangaroo rat with his magic boomerang, when he accidentally hit his sister, Mandjia instead, injuring her leg. The next day, Mandjia died from her injury. Djunban was performing a rain-making ceremony when he heard the news, and as he was grieving the death of his sister and not concentrating on his task, the rain came too heavily. He tried to warn the people, but the flood came and washed all of them away.

The Batak (Indonesia):
    Naga-Padoha, the giant snake on which the earth rests, grew tired of its burden and shook the earth off into the sea (the Deep?}, but the god, Batara-Guru, caused a mountain to fall into the water, to preserve his daughter. From her, the Human race is descended. Later, the earth was replaced onto the head of the snake - where, doubtless, it still rests today.

The Yoruba (Southwestern Nigeria):
    A god, Ifa, tired of living on earth, went to dwell in the firmament. Without his assistance, mankind couldn't interpret the desires of the gods, and one god, in a fit of rage, destroyed nearly everyone in a great flood.

The Kabadi (New Guinea):
    Lohero and his brother were angry with their neighbors, so they put a human bone in a small stream. Soon, a great flood came forth and the people had to retreat to the highest peaks until the sea receded.

The Kammu (of Thailand):
    A brother and sister, warned of an upcoming flood by a mouse, sealed themselves inside a drum, emerging again after the flood receded. They looked far and wide for mates, but they were the only survivors. A bird sang to them: "Brother and sister should embrace one another." Naturally, they followed his advice and embraced each other's brains out - after seven years, a child was born as a gourd. Hearing noises from the gourd, they burned a hole in its shell and people of different races came out.

The Miao (of China):
    Fu Xi and his sister, Nu Gua, befriended the Thunder God, who gave them a gourd seed. Soon the Thunder God sent a flood, from which Fu and Nu were saved by riding it out inside the gourd, which by this time, had grown to State-Fair-Blue-Ribbon size (if the State Fair gave Blue Ribbons for gourds). Once the flood subsided, Fu suggested they marry, there being only the two of them, as it were. Nu declined, feeling it would be improper for brother and sister to marry. Fu coaxed until Nu finally agreed - with impossible conditions. She would roll a millstone down a hill on one side of a valley, while he would roll one down the other side - should the millstones meet in the middle of the valley, and land, one atop the other, she would agree to their union. Fu crept into the valley the night before the big event, and placed two other millstones atop one another in the middle. The next morning, the original rolling stones were lost in tall grass, but Fu, not surprisingly, found the two he had planted and led Nu to them. Seeing this, she acquiesced, but the child they eventually bore was a misshapen thing without arms or legs. In anger, Fu killed it, hacked it to pieces, and scattered the pieces over a hill - the next morning, the pieces had transformed into men and women - thus, the earth was repopulated.
    One can see that this story bears a strong resemblance to the Thai story above, as well as to the Japanese creation story in Chapter 1 gods 'r' us (Part 4).

Hindu:
    Manu, the first Human, saved a small fish from the jaws of a larger fish. The small fish begged Manu for protection, so Manu protected the fish, transferring it to larger and larger containers as it grew, and finally returned it to the sea. Because of this kindness, the fish returned to warn Manu of an imminent flood and told him to build a boat and stock it with samples from every species. As the floodwaters rose, Manu tied a rope to the fish's horn. the fish towed him to a mountain, where Manu fastened the rope to a tree, so it wouldn't drift. He stayed on the mountain while the flood swept away all living creatures; Manu alone, along with his cargo, survived.

Scandinavian:
    As mentioned in Chapter 1, gods 'r' us, Odin and his brothers, Vili and Ve, fought and slew the great Frost Giant, Ymir, and icy water from his wounds drowned most of the Frost Giants. The Frost Giant, Bergelmir, escaped with his wife and children on a boat. Ymir's body became the world we live on.

Celtic:
    Heaven and Earth were great giants, and Heaven lay upon the Earth so that their children were crowded in the darkness between them. One of their sons led his brothers in cutting up Heaven into many pieces. From his skull they made the firmament. His spilling blood caused a great flood which killed all humans, except for a single pair, who were saved in a ship made by a beneficent Titan. The waters settled in hollows to become the oceans.

pax vobiscum,
archaeopteryx