STO RY, who was the son of Fik Shun, who was the son of Fay Re Tales, who was the son of Li Ur, speaks as one having large knowledge of many curious and remarkable but truthful and authentic details which have descended to him by and through his fathers, who were men of learning and renown in the countries they inhabited and among the peoples with whom they dealt and had intercourse.
Hear ye, O, my brothers, and harken unto the wise sayings I am about to send forth for thy help and satisfaction. For thus it was I was commanded by my ancestor, through his sons my fathers, to keep with great safety and accuracy this historical account of various and divers exploits by him and by them accomplished, that is to say:
By way of salutation then:
Know ye there was a time when the earth was liquid, and so it ever would have remained but for the following circumstances.
A mighty fish swam in the midst of the waters and his length was so great it was curved half way round the globe; so that by constantly swimming in this manner his backbone had become fixed in a half circle.
About this time there descended from Jupiter a man of mammoth stature, so tall, in fact, when he stood within the ocean his head and shoulders protruded above the surface. He had scarcely taken a hasty survey above the tumultuous waves when this gigantic fish observed him and, being almost famished (for it had eaten up all the other fish many months before), it smacked its huge jaws with such relish and vehemence the attention of this man (who, by the way, was my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather) was attracted toward him. But my ancestor took very little care of his adversary, knowing well his power to undo him at the proper time.
And so it happened when this great fish had approached with consummate stealth and was about to seize its prey, grandfather grasped the top of a high mountain and tipped the earth over so that all the water ran off. Then it was the curvature of the fish’s spine was his destruction; for the waters being removed, so great was the weight of his body and so rigid his spine he broke entirely in two and immediately succumbed.
My grandfather at once took from him his skin which he neatly dressed and dried in the sun and ever afterward used as a horn to call his hosts together from the four quarters of the sky; which he immediately did and peopled the earth which was now dry and green and exceedingly fair to behold.