Free Flood Legends by Charles Martin Page A

mountaintop location of the Flood vessel is merely symbolic, we cannot claim this is truth without being dogmatic, for mountain symbolism is
not
universal from culture to culture.
    There may be a second theory, however, derived from our application of the diaspora and telephone mythology. The name probably refers to the highest peak visible
in the region in which this story was told
. Though its final location has been lost today, the peak was probably an actual mountain peak, easily identifiable to the original audience of the story.
If
the peak exists, then we can make two fairly safe assumptions. Either the peak named in a particular version of the story
is
the final resting place (and, hence, the source of the dispersion), or, as a
result
of the dispersion, has become a localized version of the actual resting place.
    Parents wishing to instill the reality of the story to their children would gesture toward the local mountains and say, "That peak there is where the vessel landed." It is, simply, a way of making the story more personal and more tangible. To refer to a mountain "far away," or "further than the known world," would not suffice.
    Through the diaspora, then, it is possible to understand given mountain names as personal and idealized versions of the original myth. This does not diminish the reality of an original resting place of the Flood vessel, but merely points out a possible explanation for the many varied locations given throughout the world.
    For those who are unsatisfied with this explanation, there are a few potential connections between several versions. There is, for example, scant evidence to indicate that the Zagros mountain range, home of Mt. Nişir, was once considered part of the Ararat mountain range, tying the Gilgamesh epic to the
Torah
. 8 There is also a possible connection between the
Epic of Gilgamesh
and the
Mahābhārata
. Everest is called, in Hindi, Sagarmatha, and it is believed that the Zagros Mountains derived their name from the Sagarthian peoples, a name eerily similar to the Hindi name for Everest. 9 Understand, however, that both of these are merely conjectures and point to no real conclusion. The soundest reasoning for now, I believe, remains the idea that the different mountains named in the versions are all localized versions of the original resting place for the vessel. Other research may indicate something else later on, but for now, I'm comfortable with the "local legend" interpretation.
    All four of these aspects — heroes, crew, cargo, and resting place — provide a clear example of telephone mythology in action. We see diverging details that fit within each culture's ideological framework, but we also see similarities that point to a common source. So again, while the independent evolution of local flood accounts is
possible
, it seems highly
improbable
.
    The last detail we will look at in this book involves the appearance of animals at the end of the Flood. In some versions, the animals are sent out from the vessel as sort of a "litmus test": they are used to test whether the land is inhabitable again. In other versions, the animals are already external to the vessel and act as an "alert" that the land is dry again.

Chapter 9
     
    The Flood: Animals After the Deluge
     
Bored with the scenery, the man told an otter to dive down into the waters and see what he could find. The otter returned with a piece of earth. The man took the earth in his hand and breathed on it, and it began to grow. So he laid it on the water, kept it from sinking, and watched as it continued to grow. As it grew and grew, the man saw that it was becoming an island.
    — The Flood according to the Montagnais, Hudson Bay
    The last thread to which we will turn — very briefly — is the use of animals to determine the state of the earth after the Flood. The animals vary from version to version. There are birds in some versions, a fox in one, and a deer in another. And as much as the animals may