THE RAINBOW APPEARS IN THE WELKIN.

And leten ðe oðre to liue gon,
of hem ben tudered manigon.
the others were allowed to escape alive.
Often he [bad] wid[[114]] frigti bede,
632 ðat ſwiulc wreche ſo god ðo dede
Ne ſulde more on werlde cumen,
Quat wreche ſo ðor wurðe numen.
Noah besought God that he would no more send such destruction upon mankind.
God gat it a token of luuen,
636 Taunede him in ðe wa[l]kene a-buuen
God granted his request, and shewed him the rain-bow as a token of His love.
Rein-bowe, men cleped[[115]] reed and blo;
The rain-bow is called red and blue.
ðe blo tokeneð de[[116]] wateres wo,
ðat iſ wið-uten and is gon;
The blue denotes the water that drowned all flesh.
640 ðe rede wid-innen[[117]] toknet on
wreche ðat ſal get wurðen ſent,
wan al ðis werld wurðe brent;
And al-ſo hege ðe lowe ſal gon,
644 So ðe flod flet de dunes on;
fowerti ger or domeſ-dai,
ðiſ token no man ne ſen mai.
The red betokeneth the destruction of the world by fire.
Of[[118]] noe ſiðen an iſ ðre ſunen,
648 ben boren alle ðe in werlde wunen,
From Noah and his three sons all mankind have come.
And or he waſ on werlde led,
His kinde waſ wel wide ſpred;
Al it iſ writen ic tellen mai
652 Of his kin bi hiſ liue dai;
Before his death his family were widely spread.
vten childre and vten wimmen,
wel fowre and .xx. ðhuſent men
woren ſtalwurði boren bi tale,
656 wið-uten wif-kin and childre ſmale;
.ix. hundred ger and fifti told,
or or he ſtarf, noe waſ old.
 [Fol. 13b.]
They numbered, excluding women and children, 24,000 stalworth men.
Nembrot gat hiſe feres red,
660 for ðat he hadde of water dred,
To maken a tur, wel heg & ſtrong,
Of tigel and ter, for water-gong;
Nimrod had dread of water, so he advised his followers to make a tower high and strong.
Twelwe and ſexti men woren ðor-to,
Seventy-two men were employed about it.

[114]

read wið

[115]

read clepeð

[116]

read ðe

[117]

read wið-innen.

[118]

Oſ MS.