Then Hashem sent the animals to the Ark. What a crowd came pushing in! Of the animals that are not kosher came two of each kind: two squirrels, two spiders, two elephants. Of the kosher animals came fourteen of each: fourteen cows, fourteen sheep, fourteen chickens. Every animal was given its own place and its own food — Noach and his family saw to that, day after day.

And then came the rain. What rain it was! Water poured from the sky by the bucketful, and water rose up out of the ground below. Now the people were afraid — but now it was too late. Nobody had built a ship. Only Noach. And so only Noach was saved, and with him, happily, all the animals.

It rained and it rained, until the whole world lay under water. Even the highest mountain had disappeared. When at last the rain stopped, Noach opened a window in the Ark and looked out — left, right, on every side. Nothing but water. But slowly, ever so slowly, the earth began to dry.