Reading Notes: Noah pt B--Beautiful Sentences Cont.

I found beautiful sentences for part A of my reading notes for this week and I really enjoyed it, so I figured I would do the same for part B. Although, I am going to specifically focus on beautiful sentences from one story so that I can feel fully prepared to base this weeks story that I write on the story from part B that I write all of my notes from.

The Flood:

"He answered, and said: 'I saw thou wast very busy, and I did not wish to add to thy cares."

• I thought this sentence was so sweet. This was said by one animal whom Noah found in the corner of the ark. The animal had not eaten and when Noah asked why the above sentence was his reply. He saw how busy Noah was while he was trying to feed all of the animals aboard, and he did not want Noah to feel anymore stressed than he already was feeling. 

"The lions began to roar, the oxen lowed, the wolves howled, and all the animals gave vent to their agony, each through the sounds it had the power to utter."

• I love onomatopoeias. They give such great imagery and really allow the reader to imagine what each animal is doing in this exact moment. When I read this sentence, I felt like I could hear the lions, oxen, and wolves making their powerful noises, but I also felt like it placed me in the middle of the ark and I was able to hear all of the sounds of the animals around me. 

"On the first of Siwan the waters began to abate, a quarter of an ell a day, and at the end of sixty days, on the tenth day of Ab, the summits of the mountains showed themselves."

• More than anything, this sentence just intrigued me. I love reading sentences that use different concepts and words for time than I am used to. "An ell a day" is a concept of time that I am completely unfamiliar with, and so it's fun to imagine how long this was. Same with Ab--I think this is a month on the calendar that was used during this time, but again I'm unsure. I really enjoyed this sentence because of the mystery that it brought me. 

The Flood, in The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909). 

Noah's Ark Wood Picture by Anton Coberger