The Flood: A Catawba Tale

Long ago, rains came.

The river rose, and the flood washed away all the people.

Almost all the people.

A few people found an island; they climbed up trees on the island and waited a long time in the trees.

"Go, Dove!" they said. "Bring something back!"

The dove brought back a leaf; the people in the trees knew water still covered the land.

The next time the dove brought back corn in its mouth.

The people knew they would find dry land, so they came down from the trees, swam through the water, and reached dry land at last.

dove

This is another story told by Mrs. Margaret Brown, a Catawba woman who was born around 1835; she died in 1922. You can see the Biblical story of Noah and the flood here, but there is no ark, and the dove brings back corn as the sign of hope! You can see the Catawba text in Speck's book; the text is very short, so I was able to develop more of a sense of step-by-step in the plot.