“And never are meek, that I dare say.
This is well seen of me to-day,
In witness of you each one.
Good wife, let all this beere [noise]
That thou makest in this place here;
For they all ween thou art master,
And so thou art, by St. John!”
But here, in order to attend to the various animals which had to be taken into the ark, Noah was obliged to cease arguing for a time; and the way in which this difficult business of the animals was represented, greatly amused and interested the children.
Each of Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law mentioned the names of many birds and beasts, and as they named them, they held up great figures painted on parchment, and cut out to represent the various creatures of which they spoke.
Shem began the list: