Were the case otherwise, it would offer no additional
point of similarity to the Hebrew myth, for the word rendered _giants_
in the phrase, "and there were giants in those days," has no such
meaning in the original. It is a blunder which crept into the
Septuagint, and has been cherished ever since, along with so many others
in the received text.
A few specimens will serve as examples of all these American flood
myths. The Abbe Brasseur has translated one from the Codex Chimalpopoca,
a work in the Nahuatl language of Ancient Mexico, written about half a
century after the conquest. It is as follows:--
"And this year was that of Ce-calli, and on the first day all was lost.
The mountain itself was submerged in the water, and the water remained
tranquil for fifty-two springs.
"Now towards the close of the year, Titlahuan had forewarned the man
named Nata and his wife named Nena, saying, 'Make no more pulque, but
straightway hollow out a large cypress, and enter it when in the month
Tozoztli the water shall approach the sky.
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