Mandaean Oral Traditions and Folklore

LEGENDS OF CREATION,   THE FLOOD, ETC. 

1 D. and E. The Flood
#1--LEGENDS OF CREATION, THE FLOOD, ETC.
...A. CREATION
...B. CREATION AND THE FLOOD
...C. THE CREATION OF MAN
...D. AND E. THE FLOOD
...F. THE MANDAEAN NATION
...G. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE RED SEA STORY

#2--OF ABRAHAM AND YURBA

#3--HOW HIBIL ZIWA FETCHED RUHA FROM THE DARKNESS

#4--THE STORY OF QIQEL AND THE DEATH OF YAHYA

#5-- NEBUCHADNEZZAR`S DAUGHTER

#6--SUN STORIES

#7-- THE BRIDGE AT SHUSTER

#8-- THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER AND ADAM BUL FARAJ

#9-- HOW DANA NUK VISITED THE SEVENTH HEAVEN

#10-- THE MILLENNIUM

#11-- CONCERNING THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MADDAI AND HOW THE TURKS CAME TO TAKE IT

#12-- HOW THE MANDAI AND THEIR GANZIBRA LEFT THE MOUNTAIN FOR A BETTER COUNTRY

#13-- THE CHILD CONCEIVED ON THE 29th NIGHT OF THE MOON

#14-- THE KANSHI UZAHLA

#15-- THE HAUNTINGS

#16-- THE PLAGUE IN SHUSTER

#17-- THE STONE-THROWING

#18-- THE KAFTAR

#19-- BIBI`S SONS AND THEIR STRANGE ADVENTURE

#20-- SHAIKH ZIBID

#21-- OF BEHOLDING EVENTS IN TRANCE

#22-- HOW EVIL SPIRITS ABUSE THE DEAD, ETC.

#23-- MEN WHO HAVE RETURNED FROM DEATH, ETC.

#24-- OF THE POWER T0 SEE SPIRITS

#25-- THE SIMURGH: THE TRUE HISTORY OF RUSTAM AND HIS SON

#26-- HIRMIZ SHAH

#27--THE MAN WHO SOUGHT TO SEE SIN THE MOON

#28-- THE SIMURGH AND HIRMIZ SHAH
When Hiwel Ziwa told Noh that the world would be destroyed by water, Noh brought wood from the Harran and built his ark, called in our tongue a kawila or anana. Noh asked a sign, so he might know when it was to begin.

(The story here follows F until. . .)

Noh arose, took two of all beasts and put them into the ark through a hole in the top, then he and his family entered and closed the hole, all excepting Sam, for Sam was in the wilds, tending his flock. The thunder came, the sky split, the hail descended, and the waters rose. Sam fled and his sheep followed him but the water came and surrounded them and all were drowned. Sam reached the ark, seized it, clambered up its side and remained on the top. There he stayed and was fed daily by Hiwel Ziwa. Before eating he washed his arms and did all that it is commanded that a tarmida should do, performing his ablutions daily.

(The story again follows F. After the return of the dove ...)

Then Noh cursed the crow and said, 'Henceforward at the time of the ripening of fruit, thou shalt not eat of it!' But he blessed the dove, which is called mana 'soul', and is purer and better than all birds.
The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran
By E.S. Drower Clarendon Press, Oxford,1937  (Reprint Leiden:E.J. Brill 1962) pages 258-259
Narrator: a priest and a layman from priestly family (Drower gives no name)