But Zeus was not satisfied with that. He called Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, to his assistance. Poseidon came quickly. He spoke to all the rivers in a loud commanding voice. “Leave your beds,” he cried, “and rush wildly over your banks and flood the world!” The rivers obeyed, and Poseidon himself struck the earth with his trident. The earth quaked and, bursting open in many places, let forth torrents of water.
The waters rose higher and higher. The valleys became one wide lake, and soon the tops of the trees were no longer above the water. Man and herds were drowned. The altars of the gods were swept away. When a house remained standing it was soon covered with water. The highest towers disappeared in the flood. Land and sea were no longer separated. The world was all sea—a long, shoreless sea.
Seals gambolled where goats had formerly grazed. Dolphins swam over the cities that were buried beneath the waves. Wolves and sheep, lions and tigers huddled close together and swam about as long as they could keep afloat, when they sank below the waters. The deer could no longer find ground for his fleet foot. The birds flew on tired, trembling wings searching for a place on which to perch and finally fell into the sea with worn-out wings.
The people tried to save themselves in any possible way. Some fled to the hills and mountains. Some took refuge in ships and sailed over the fields where formerly the plough had moved. By and by the mountain-tops were swept by the waves, and the ships were whirled about by the terrible currents and wrecked.
Deukalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only ones to be saved. He had taken the advice of his father, Prometheus, to build himself a floating-house in the form of a box and to store in it a great amount of food; when the flood came he entered this house with his wife. The house was carried about nine days and nine nights by the winds. Only the two peaks of Parnassos remained above water. On this mountain the floating-house stuck fast.
When Zeus cast his eyes down to earth he saw that everything was covered with water, on the surface of which floated trees and grasses and thousands of animals and people who had perished in the flood. And he saw Deukalion and his wife safely anchored on the heights of Parnassos.
Then Zeus gave commands to Boreas to chase away the black clouds. The sun shone again and the waters retreated from the earth, which was soon dry again. Poseidon laid aside his trident and the rivers ran in their old channels. Woods sprang up and the fields bloomed with flowers.
Deukalion and Pyrrha looked around them. Everywhere was loneliness and silence. It was like the solitude of death. Deukalion wept and said to his beloved Pyrrha: “My dear wife, I do not see a living soul far or near in any direction. Thou art my only companion. All the friends we have known have perished in the flood. We are the only inhabitants of the earth. What will life be worth to us, since we must live alone in the world with no fellow-men. I should like better to live if we had other people whom we might love and help and with whom we could enjoy ourselves. But we will give thanks to Zeus for saving us.”
They walked along a little way and came to an altar of the Goddess of Justice. There they fell on their knees and said: “Oh, divine Justice, tell us how we may revive the human race which has perished. Oh, help us and restore our lost ones to us.” They listened for the goddess to answer and soon they heard a soft voice reply: “Veil your faces, oh, Deukalion and Pyrrha. Go down the mountain, and as ye go throw backward over your shoulders the bones of your mother.”
Deukalion and his wife were puzzled at these words and at first they could not tell what they meant. But after some meditation Deukalion said: “My dear wife, the earth is our mother and her bones are the rocks. As we go down the mountain we will cast behind us the stones which we find in our pathway.”