But Noah doubted not the word of God and set to work at once,--his three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth helping him to build an ark, and to gather together the birds and beasts and animals of the earth.
Every morning the four men set out as soon as the sun had risen, and kept at their work until darkness fell at night.
At last the ark was finished, and Noah, with his wife, his three sons and their wives, journeyed to the mountain side. The people in the valley laughed at them and threw stones at them, but the trustful little band kept on their way and entered the ark, taking with them, as they had been told, two of every kind of bird and beast.
Then the clouds began to gather in the south,--great black rolls of cloud. The wind rose, the clouds scattered over the whole sky; and so black and thick were they that the light of the sun was shut out. It was like night.
Then the rain fell. In great sheets, like rivers, it poured upon the valleys. The thunders rolled, the lightnings flashed, the rivers overflowed their banks. The winds howled, and great trees were torn up by the roots.
For forty days this storm continued--forty days and forty nights. Every living thing left upon the face of the earth was drowned. But the ark, with its inmates, was borne up by the waters in safety. At last, one morning when Noah and his people awoke, they could see that the storm had ceased; the clouds were separating, and the sun was sending its rays down through the mist upon the flooded earth below.
Then came the beautiful rainbow, spanning the heavens in the west, and reflecting its wonderful colors in the great sea below.
Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky When storms prepare to part, I ask not proud philosophy To teach me what thou art.
Still seem as to my childhood's sight, A midway station given, For happy spirits to alight Betwixt the earth and heaven.
How glorious is thy girdle cast O'er mountain, tower, and town, Or mirror'd in the ocean vast, A thousand fathoms down.
As fresh in yon horizon dark, As young thy beauties seem, As when the eagle from the ark First sported in thy beam.
For faithful to its sacred page, Heaven still rebuilds thy span, Nor lets the type grow pale with age, That first spoke peace to man.