Noah's...Raft?

I previously posted the Inupiaq legend of the first disaster and how it's suspiciously similar to a story found in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon. The second disaster, in Inupiaq legend, is an age-old classic that can be found in virtually every culture on earth, it seems.

A certain man had a dream one night that he was standing on the top of a tall mountain surrounded by water. He couldn't see anything or anyone else but water. He called for help, and he heard a voice call to him. He saw himself come across the water to where he was. The apparition of himself told him that there was going to be a great flood and that he needed to warn everyone and to build a great raft.

When he woke up, he began to do just that. Everyone laughed at him and called him crazy, except for four men. They helped him to build the raft. When the rains started to come down, they put their tents on the raft, and the waters rose. Eventually the waters covered everything. After the flood began to subside, the people saw a rainbow, which they had never seen before. They took it as a sign that the flood was over.

The man later saw another vision in which he heard a great Voice call to him and tell him that all people would descend from him and that they would think great things of him.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't end happily. While pondering where a man's spirit goes when you die, or what a spirit is, he ends up gaining two familiar spirits and becomes the first sorcerer. He becomes evil and has many people killed. He is later outdone, however, by another sorcerer.

Coincidences from the Book of Mormon

I'm currently taking a class to finish getting my professional teaching license. It's entitled, "North Slope Inupiaq History, Language and Culture." We are studying some of their creation stories and other legends. One of them is particularly interesting.

Over the course of their oral history, they have legends of four major disasters. The first of these occurred at the end of a paradisaical period. The climate was much warmer and people didn't have to work for what they had. There was one boy who grew up and was the perfect child. He was helpful, kind, and thoughtful. Everyone loved him.

One day, as he was thinking near a pond, he heard a voice calling him. He looked around, but didn't see anything. The voice called again, but again there wasn't anyone. After a third time, he saw a man unlike anyone he had seen before with a long, white beard and hair. He was afraid because he had never seen anyone like that before, although people lived to see the 5th and 6th generations of their descendants. The man told him he was a prophet who had chosen this boy for his goodness to warn his people of a destruction to come.

He told him that to begin with, there would be great earthquakes. People wouldn't die from these. However, they would warn of things to come. Soon after, the sun would be eclipsed by the moon for three days and a nearby mountain would erupt. After that, all but very few people would be dead and the climate would change so that the people would have to wear warm clothes, deal with winter hardships, and be industrious.

The boy warned the people and they were responsive, but even so most of the surrounding populations of people were wiped out.

This story, and others of interest, can be found in the book, "People of Kawerak."