Noah and his sons worked for a long, long time on the ark. The one hundred and twenty years went by. Then the ark was finished. It was a very big boat. It had a roof. There were rooms in it. There was a door and there was a window. But the boat stood on dry land. Then one day God came down and spoke to Noah again. God said, " In seven days the rain will begin to fall. You must get everything ready now."

God wanted the animals to live too. He told Noah to take two of every kind that He had made, and bring them into the ark with Noah and his family. Noah and his sons carried bushels of food into the ark. They need food for themselves. They needed food for the animals. At last that was done.

Then the animals came. God sent them to Noah. They came two by two- a father and a mother rabbit, a father and a mother elephant, a father and a mother of every kind of animal that God had made. But god sent seven of some kinds. Noah took these into the ark, too. When the animals were all in the ark, God told Noah to go in. God said, "Take your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives. You must all go into the ark. I will close the door. I will send the rain. "There was no sign of rain. But Noah went into the ark with his wife and his sons and sons' wives. The God closed the door.

After awhile the clouds came. Big dark clouds spread over the blue sky. They hid the sun. Then the rain began to fall. It came faster and faster. Soon it was pouring down. All day long the rain fell. All night long the rain fell. All the next day the rain fell. And all the next day. Water came up out of the ground, too. It came bubbling up. Soon the water began to cover the earth. It ran all over the ground. It lifted the ark. The ark floated on the water. And still the rain poured down.

For forty days and forty nights the water came down from the sky and water came up from inside the earth. It lifted the ark higher and higher. It covered the housetops. It covered the treetops. The ark floated above the houses and the trees. All the people and all the animals that were left on the earth were drowned.

Then at last the rain stopped. Noah looked out of the window. He could see nothing but water. Water covered the whole earth. It covered even the highest hills. Everything was one great big sea. And the ark floated on the great big sea. All the wicked people had drowned. Noah and his family and the animals inside the ark were safe.