Classical Myths in Children\'s Writing\'s

¶ … CLASSICAL MYTHS IN CHILDREN'S WRITING'S

The oral tradition of storytelling has existed perhaps since the times when human beings began to gather in groups around fires long before the dawn of what we would now call civilization. Eventually these stories became the mythology of the culture and eventually were written down, in one form or another, for posterity. One of the earliest renditions of this literature can be found in the clay tablets from the Mesopotamian civilization retelling the tale of Gilgamesh.

The first known and recorded epic would appear to be the legend of Gilgamesh sung to the harp by Sumerians and recorded in clay some 3,000 years before Christ. It exalts the wondrous exploits of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and celebrates his friendship with Enkidu. It probes the mysteries of life and whatever is beyond it. (Saxby 2004:254)

While it is true that in many cases parts of the clay tablets are still lost (See figure 1) and the full length text of much of the myth is not directly known, but has been pieced together out of other sources to complete it. For instance we know that Gilgamesh was the, "Semi-legendary King of Uruk and hero of the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic which was based on myths that had existed for centuries in Sumer." (Cotterell 1986:27)

In the edubba ('tablethouse'), or school, the ancient works (epics, omen literature, prayers, etc., as well as the wisdom corpus) were copied diligently by the scribes, who were themselves organized in a kind of guild system and deeply imbued with the idea of tradition. The schools were associated with temple and palace, and served the purposes of these institutions. (Murphy 1981:10)

These clay tablets, were produced by the Sumerian and Babylonian scribes.

The ancient land of Mesopotamia was situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (see Figure 2) and was the site of many different cultures such as the Assyrain Empire in the north and the Babylonian kingdom in the south. The two most well know capitals of these were Ninevah, to the former and Babylon, to the latter. Both have been the speculation of myth, fact and fiction over the succeeding centuries. (Thomas 2008: 899)

Mesopotamia was an area where many different ethnic groups and cultures mingled. This original melting pot blended and re-imagined many traditions while an also subconscious force also shaped these divergent cultures into a "common mold:"

…in a kind of ever-renewing synthesis, into which was absorbed, to a large extent, the heritage of more ancient cultures, at once assimilated and modified. Thus we may speak of Sumerian, Amorite, Babylonian, or Assyrian historiographies. Furthermore, wherever a temple or palace was built, intellectual activity flourished; schools grew up in all cities where the literate strove to cultivate their particular skills. (Glassner 2005:3)

Many scholars believe that the influence of the Mesopotamian mythology is predominant in Western Culture and has influenced not only that mythology but the parables of many religions as well. Perhaps, as Jung might say, these stories represent archetypal allegories that resonate with all cultures and it is natural to adopt them as meaning interpretations of deeper philosophical resonance.

Jung, whose theory has been criticized for demanding a vast amount of knowledge of myth, did not perceive the unconscious as an instinctual and libidinal battleground, although he posited a 'primitive psyche' in the child which functions in dreams and fantasies comparable to the physical evolution of mankind in the embryo (Bosmajian 1999:103)

Take for instance the simple Mesopotamian proverb, "The tallest man cannot reach heaven; the widest man cannot cover the mountain (or earth')." This single sentence espouses themes and phrases found throughout many mythological literatures that express the limitations of human existence. (Greenspahn 1994: 33) The tower of Babel comes to mind in the bible, a smilax reach to heaven that was unsuccessful reflecting the limitations of corporeal existence as compared to that of God.

For the Bible, the line between the human and the divine may not be breached - at least not by humans, who must stay in their place and wait for God to make His presence known. Presented in poetry and in prose, this concept was often communicated using the language of an ancient Mesopotamian proverb, which provided the imagery with which Biblical authors expressed this profound conviction of Israelite theology. (Greenspahn 1994:41)

No less so with the tales of human creation as well as destruction that are presented in the various forms of the Great Flood mythology that appears in almost all cultural mythology in one form or another with strikingly similar narrative. For instance, "Hunab Or Hunab Ku, 'the single god' the remote creator deity in Maya belief, he renewed the world after the three deluges, which poured from the mouth of the sky serpent." (Cotterell 1986:212) There are also the Aztec Creation Legends that tell that the 'first earth' with its inhabitants was destroyed by a great flood caused by Atonatiuh, the water sun. (Sykes 1993:23) Furthermore, Nu'u (The Hawaiian Noah) escaped this cultures great flood in a large vessel with a house on top of it. "Having landed at the summit of a mountain on Hawaii and sacrificed kava, pig, and coconuts to heaven, the god Kane descended on a rainbow." (Cotterell 1986:285)

There is also a tendency in many cultures to create several manifestations of creation, not just one, as in the example of the "first earth" in the Aztec legend cited above. This has several effects, one, of periodization, that crates the impression of order to the universe springing from seeming chaos. Everything in creation proceeds in a preordained way from start to finish, often again and again. This periodization also makes it possible to find the present in the order of event, to know where one is in the scheme of things is a comforting effect of this tendency. (Collins 1998:64)

The tale of the great flood has also been a favorite story in Children's literature as well. This is possible due to the inclusion of the many animals as well as the heroic effort to save them that is also a part of the tale. This will be discussed in further detail later in this paper as the example story presented by this author will be the tale of the Great Flood as retold from the versions that have survived from ancient Iraq, written in both Sumerian and Akkadian (See Appendix I).

While these Mesopotamian myth's and tales have been transferred into our culture via transliterations into other tales, the original, perhaps even more poetic stories have been lost. It is the concern of this paper that this no longer be the case and that these wonderful stories and allegories make their way back into the twenty-first century and into the stories and tales of children's literature. While Greek and even Roman mythology still has a foothold in this genre, these Mesopotamian anecdotes and parables do not. Even Beowulf has conquered a new generation of moviegoers but Gilgamesh is still more alien, than Alien to most. However, this writer must note that a Mesopotamian deity did make an appearance in a quite popular book turned movie, the Exorcist. "The demon, identified in the novel as Pazuzu, was a genuine character in Mesopotamian mythology: a demon associated with the wind." (Cull 2000:46)

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE OVERVIEW

In order to further understand the importance of these lost texts in the realm of children's literature, an exploration of that genre is in order. While a part of civilizations literary content since the beginning, children stories have had many forms and variance over time ranging from instructional tomes to fantastic allegories, the latter usual more popular than the former. But for the purposes of this study, the literary content of children's literature is the main focus. That is its narrative import, the allegorical representations and the further inferences into the realm of culture itself are the main impetus under scrutiny.

Initially the definition seems simple, as stated here, "The definition of 'children's literature' lies at the heart of its endeavor: it is a category of books the existence of which absolutely depends on supposed relationships with a particular reading audience: children." (Lesnik-Oberstein 1999:15) Yet this is certainly the adult categorization of the genre and not the true meaning behind the literature. "The evolution of the word "books" to "literature" reveals the increasing sacralization of discourse on reading for children. For a good long time, "children's books" seemed like a suitable phrase to describe the genre." (Lundin 2004:142) As Ludin also points out, sometime in the 1950's the genre actually changed from "Children's Books" to Children's Literature. She claims it is the direct effect of two key works on the subject: Meigs's Critical History of American Children's Literature and Lillian Smith's The Unreluctant Years: A Critical Approach to Children's Literature. "Both texts highlight the genre as part of literature." (Lundin 2004:143)

The children's illustrator and writer, F.J. Harvey Darton, delineated the split between instructive books for children and children's literature. He stated that, "I mean printed works produced ostensibly to give children spontaneous pleasure and not primarily to teach them, nor solely to make them good, nor to keep them profitably quiet." (Darton 1932/1982:1) So here the quest is for the capture and promotion of children's imagination through stories and fables that please as well as enlighten. There is always the fallout that once a child learns to love to read he or she will read many more things with greater enthusiasm than before.

The children's literature genres developed in Mesopotamia and in Egypt over a roughly 1,500-year period - proverbs, fables, animal stories, debates, myths, instructions (wisdom literature), adventure and magic tales, school stories, hymns and poems - pass down to the Hebrews and the Greeks. The Old Testament owes much to both Mesopotamian and Egyptian literature (Adams 2004:230)

One can see that, as stated previously, children's literature is nothing new to both civilized and pre-civilized cultures, and certainly has relegated itself to a certain level of importance in all societies.

There is also a genre that is known as Wisdom Literature which includes these fables, stories and tales of mythology, but which should also include, as far as this writer is concerned, children's literature as well. By using different forms of allegorical representations of myths and legends, the stories told become lessons learned in the way of living life. This is another reason that the mythology of Mesopotamia is important since it conveys a larger array of creativity and mythology to choose from. In fact many scholars believe that the literature from this area is far more diverse. "Sumerian wisdom, which has come to be translated and understood only in recent times, contains far more genres than those found in Israel." (Murphy 1981:9)

Another important aspect to Children's literature is the area of Narrative. Since children's literature is intimately involved with storytelling, narrative is a key element. "Narrative theory is highly relevant to the study of children's literature. One of the profound characteristics of children's literature is the discrepancy between the cognitive level of the sender (adult) and the implied addressee (child)." (Nikolajeva 2004:166) In order for the child to absorb the story, the narrative must be compelling and imaginative, giving both pleasure and arousing curiosity of outcome.

Allegory is certainly another critical area of not only children's literature but of all literature-based mythologies. Allegory creates tales that have meaning on very deep and fundamental levels and is critical in expressing and adult concept in terms children can understand. Allegory represents, "… a separate philosophy or sequence of events, for the primary (though not exclusive) purpose of highlighting or inculcating a doctrine or system of belief. An abstract idea or conception organizes and determines the narrative." (Bell 2005: 13)

Some examples in throughout literature include Everyman, The Faerie Queen, and Pilgrim's Progress. In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the hero, named "Christian," has to travel through the danger of Vanity Fair and the Slough of Despond in order to get to the Celestial City. The allegorical symbolism is almost too representational and vergers on not being allegory at all.

Mesopotamian myth is especially rich in these allegories and is a relevant source for children's literature on many levels. As mentioned previously, it certainly has an archetypal relevance to many biblical stories and perhaps was the origin of many of them as well. This is especially true of the Epic of Gilgamesh, "…the twelve ancient Mesopotamian tablets that make up the epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world's most magnificent poems, among the oldest of writings, and the prototype literary creation that informed Biblical and ancient Greek literatures, among others. (Helbig and Perkins 1997:103) This creates a familiar relevance that children can relate to, as well as adults. Furthermore, the allegorical riches in Mesopotamian literature is ripe for the creation of children's stories. John Garnder, the writer of several Children's stories, spent eighteen months studying the Epic of Gilgamesh. He found that the myths were quite apt at setting the fate of the individual is inextricably links to the gods whose whims turn the universe. This is a central theme of "Mesopotamian psychology." (Morris 1982:39) This is especially relevant to a child whose entire universe is almost always under someone else's control, i.e.: parents, teachers, etc.

This transforms into the concept of luck as being sent down from the gods. IN fact there are four words for soul in the Mesopotamian language and, …they all have luck as an important shade of their range of meanings, and they all have some relationship to the world of demons and the dead. To experience a lucky stroke, to escape a danger, to have an easy and complete success, is expressed in Akkadian by saying that such a person has a "spirit" ( Oppenheim 1964: 200).

There are also many oracles and signs that have great allegorical relevance as well as play on the fancies of the imagination of the child.

THE GREAT FLOOD -- THROUGHOUT TIME

While in the Western culture most believe that the Great Flood story originated with Noah and the Ark, there have been literally countless version of it long before this one and many others that have sprung up independently across many various cultures and lands. The table below shows the various flood legends and compares them to each other and to the main p;oints of the biblical version:

As one can see from this analysis the Assyrian tradition has a 100% match-up with the biblical story. Most researchers now believe that all the flood myths of West Asia are Mesopotamian in origin. They appear at the end of eras, periodic creations and destructions of the world that occur in most culture's mythology. Hindu mythology has their Kalpas and Sumerian Mythology also have eras that last for 241,200 years. This periodic rebirth and destruction of civilization was also found in the Mayan civilization:

The first world was inhabited by dwarfs, the builders of the great ruined cities; in the second lived the dzolob, or 'offenders', an obscure race; the third world saw the Maya themselves; the present one peopled by a mixture of tribes will also end with a flood. This alternation of destruction and renewal is a reflection of the duality in Maya religion. Chac, the rain god, tended the new shoots of the tree, while the god of death, Ah Puch, sought to nip off the seed leaves. (Cotterell 1986:212)

The kings of these times are also reminiscent of the monarch that existed prior to the biblical deluge of Noah. There was also a version of the Gilgamesh flood that existed prior to that period as well, but has been largely lost to time:

According to the fragments preserved, when the gods decided to drown mankind, the water god Enki warned the pious and god-fearing Ziusudra, King of Sippar, who built a boat in order to escape the seven-day flood. Later Ziusudra acquired 'life like a god'. In Akkadian literature there are two versions of the flood story. (Cotterell 1986:39)

In the Gilgamesb Epic Utanapishtim is the hero, while in another myth the survivor of the flood is Atrahasis. In fact, during the seventh century BC Assyrian culture in Mesopotamia, the Atrahasis myth was used as an incantation at childbirth. This also translates into the Christian symbolism as allegory of the deliverance from the flood came to signify baptism and Noah's ark itself the symbol of the Church. (Cotterell 1986)

The Epic of Gilgamesh was only fairly recently rediscovered in 1876 when the famed Assyriologist George Smith successfully deciphered the Chaldean story of the Great Flood from a fragment among the huge number of the cuneiform tablets that were piling up in the British Museum's Kuyunjik Collection.

The epic was originally recorded on twelve large tablets of a total of 3,600 lines and stored in the great library of King Assurbanipal (ca. 668-627 B.C.) in Nineveh. Owing to the tablets' sometimes poor state of preservation only about a half of the whole story is known, although our understanding has been aided by various minor fragments found elsewhere. (Masako 1995: 241)

Over time these various fragments have taken on the shape of perhaps the original archetypal flood story.

However, while strikingly similar, there are also some striking differences that are worth noting. Obviously the names are certainly different, but the time frames are also quite different. The flood in the Gilgamesh epic lasts for only seven days while the flood of the bible last for forty days. There is also a sparrow put to the task of finding dry land as opposed to a dove. The most striking difference is that Noah Character of Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh version becomes immortal along with his wife as a gift from the Gods for not allowing everything to perish in the flood. While Noah become the last of the long-lived race of ancestors, living over six hundred years, but does not live forever.

The mountains where the boats / arks came to rest are also different, yet curiously linked. In the Gilgamesh epic Mount Nimush is the resting place of the Ark after the flood while in the biblical version Mount Arrarat is the traditional spot. Both Mount Nimush and Mount Arrarat are part of the same Volcanic Mountain chain. Mount Nimush is believed to be what is know today as Pir Omar Gudrun in Kurdish region of northeastern Iraq and Mount Arrarat is located north along the same volcanic chain further north in Turkey (see Figure 5). However, the actual locations for both these mountains are still somewhat in debate. Original cuneiform glyphs were translated as Mount Nisir but recent scholarship has claimed Mount Nimush or Nimir as the actual word.

The promise of never destroying mankind by flood also exists in both legends. In Noah's version a rainbow appears after the floods as God's promise never to destroy mankind by this method again. In the Gilgamesh tradition:

Moments later, Enlil appeared in a fury. 'Ea betrayed the secrets of the gods!'

'No' said Ea, 'I merely whispered into the reed wall. From now on, Enlil, whenever the raised voices of the people vex you, you must send a lion, a wolf or even a war to kill some of them but never again a great flood to kill them all!'

Fact or Fiction: Another interesting note is that both these flood stories may derive from an actual event. New evidence exists that states there may have been a flood that occurred here when the Mediterranean Sea overflowed its boundaries and flooded this entire area. "The freshwater Black Sea was inundated almost overnight 7,500 years ago by a catastrophic flood of Mediterranean saltwater." ("Noah's Flood in the" 2000) The authors of Noah's Flood in the Black Sea, William Ryan and Walter Pitman, both geologists at Columbia University, claim that the freshwater Black Sea was initially created by melting glacial ice. This same process raised the Sea levels worldwide causing the Mediterranean Sea to breach the natural dam, which would have been located at what is now the Bosporus. This had the effect of pouring saltwater into the Black Sea and would have consequently caused an apocalyptic deluge submerging thousands of miles of dry land and possibly destroying thousand of people and hundreds of thousands of animal and plant species. ("Noah's Flood in the" 2000)

There is an intriguing verse in the epic that may possibly relate to this merging of waters as well:

Zinsudra heard the voice of Ea.

'What shall I tell my people?'

Zinsudra listened well as Ea spoke.

'Tell them that the almighty god Enlil and Ea, the god of fresh water and wisdom, disagree. You and your people must go to the Abzu, the magical place where the waters of the earth and the wisdom of the world flow together.'

This "flowing together" and the marked representation of the "god of Fresh water" certainly takes on a new significance should the hypothesis of Ryan and Pittman be correct. This of course begs the question, if there is an actual, historic event that could be called the great flood could there be an actual, historical personage of Noah or Utnapishtim?

Furthermore, the intention of the authors of such tail may have been to actually use history to convey a philosophical or theological message. This may have gien the writer of these myth a tendency to certain liberties when it came to telling the story.

The Akkadian Myth of Erra, & #8230; is certainly a myth, since the actors are divine, and the themes developed are those of Mesopotamian mythology. The content, however, belongs to history, since it refers to events occurring between 1100 and 850. We thus see here an astonishing interaction between myth and history, the facts wrested from the time of the gods and projected directly into historical time. The author was not interested in producing a chronicle of past centuries, of which, however, he had a profound knowledge; his aim was to make a theology of them. (Glassner 2005:26)

In storytelling as an oral tradition, this handing down of ever evolving tales certainly always has an origin in historic facts of some kind. It is hard to tell how the engine of human imagination will retain and/or change the detail to mix and merge with whatever culture is represented.

The intention in the Gilgamesh epic is to explore the meaning of human existence, and more precisely, death. After the death of his mentor and companion, Enkidu, Gilgamesh is really on a quest to seek eternal life. The story of the flood is told to remind the reader of the gift that was given to Utnapishtim and his wife:

Gilgamesh, grief-stricken, decided that what he wanted was not fame and glory but eternal life. Knowing that Utnapishtim, king of the city of Shuruppak before the Great Flood, had been granted immortality by the gods and still lived at the farthest end of the earth, Gilgamesh set out alone toward the west in search of eternal life.(12) Wandering in the wilderness, beset by wild animals and hunger, he at last reached Mt. Mashu, (Masako 1995)

RESEARCH AND WRITING PROCESS

The impetus for creating this project stemmed from the desire to write down and retell the stories form ancient Mesopotamia that had survived in oral tradition for centuries. There was a personal interest in this since this writer's husband is British-Iraqi and he has a friend that is a translator that could have assisted with the project. Originally this project was to include a trip to the areas in the Middle East where these stories have been told and retold and to recollect them first hand from the old storytellers we found there. However, due to unforeseen circumstance this trip was not possible. However, there were several resources available where the oral traditions of Mesopotamia and other regions have been studied and taken down. The Enheduanna Society's ZIPZANG mission one resource that has been instrumental to this writer. ZIPZANG is the Sumerian word for "breath" and they have cataloged numerous oral stories on their web site. (ZIPZANG 2010)

As stated, the chosen Myth for the writing process is "The Great Flood" as represented by the rendition found in the Gilgamesh Epic. This works on many levels and is already a familiar story to many children to begin with. Noah and the Animals from the biblical version certainly has held not only children's interest but adults as well.

While there were many different myths to choose from, several were discarded from the outset as being to violent for children and certainly not very politically correct for the times and culture. One, The Birth of Man was considered but disregarded because of sections such as the following:

Namma sang a song while Enki worked the clay beating to its rhythm. Out came fourteen fertile goddesses.

Namma continued singing.

She put seven pieces of clay in the womb of the seven goddesses sitting to her right. Out came seven beautiful baby girls. Then, she put seven pieces of clay into the womb of the seven goddesses sitting to her left. Out came seven beautiful baby boys.

While this section may be a little beyond what a young child could comprehend, I decided to include it as part of a well-rounded presentation of a creation myth. However, the following from the same tale, while certainly compelling, would probably be too confusing and perhaps even too cruel in some ways for the younger generation:

Ninmah took the clay and molded a man whose shaking hand hindered him to fight in the battlefield.

Enki determined this man would work within the city walls at the King's services.

Next Ninmah molded a blind child.

Enki gave him excellent hearing and musical talent so he could perform for the King.

Third, Ninmah molded a man unable to walk.

Enki taught him to work with his hands and enabled him to become a silversmith.

Fourth, Ninmah molded a man who was barbaric and backward.

Enki taught him how to read and write. This way, the man was able to work as a scribe.

Fifth, Ninmah molded a child unable to speak.

Enki taught him to draw and gave him artistic talent.

Sixth, Ninmah molded a woman unable to have babies.

Enki determined for her to become an excellent weaver and entrusted her to the queen's household.

While compelling form a philosophical standpoint, the transliteration into children's literature would either have been to confusing, or become to vague to have any profound import whatsoever.

Even in this regard the current story, The Great Flood, if left unabridged, would have also had some problems with content. In fact the Flood Story also has part of the Birth of Man story within it and this writer had to make certain adjustments so as to keep the tale more Socially and Politically correct. Some content such as the section that tells how Ea create man from clay and the blood of a slain god, while certainly compelling, has no real place in a children's story, just as some of the above passages would not be appropriate for a younger audience.

Also, as previously stated, many sections of these tales have been lost over time, clay tablets destroyed or poorly preserved, so that many details had to be compiled from other sources. In recreating this tale as a children's story, this writer underwent a similar process of editing, while all the time attempting to maintain the cultural aspects of it origin and staying as true to the spirit of the original text as possible. There were also several levels of choices and interpretations to choose from and in some cases whole paragraphs added, some lengthened and other shortened, simplified or omitted some sections altogether

In writing for children, as previously stated, one has to keep in mind the audience one is writing for. Piaget, one of the forerunners of modern child psychology and theories of child development supported the use of children's literature as a means of not only educational development but creating whole personalities.

According to Piaget, children between 2 and 7 years of age fit into the preoperational period of development. For example, two and three-year-olds believe that if inanimate objects move, they are alive. Even machines which are able to move appear to children as living things (Russell, 1994).

Piaget discovered, for instance, that young children believed that the moon followed them around at night when they went for a walk, that dreams actually came in through the window (hence the development of dream catchers) while they were asleep, and were convinced that anything that moved, such as dandelion seeds in the air and even windblown curtains, was alive. "Experiencing stories teaches children problem solving, morals, beauty, values, myths, a nd social relations. However, if children don't understand the development of events in the story and cannot construct the basic framework with their memory." (Yoo 1997) This is the crux of the reasoning behind this writer's use of mythology in children's literature and especially this highly imaginative and creative mythology of the Mesopotamian culture.

Also, returning to narrative, most mythological stories have simple narrative forms. They are usually monologues or very simple dialogs with single points-of-view and a common thread of narrative running through them. These narrative modes that are typically used in children's literature has a tendency to be restricted to either a first person narration by the main character or third person narration with one character that is the focal point of the story. They also are generally, "… single-stranded and story-driven narratives, [with] closed rather than open endings, and a narrative discourse lacking stylistic variation. (Mccallum 1999:138) This is not to say that these restrictions cannot give way to fertile and imaginative storytelling, far from it. In fact by focusing directly on this simpler stylistic approach, this writer discovered a further freedom to "play" within the story.

Tales of Myth and legend are usually written precisely in this fashion and certainly lend themselves to the genre of children's literature. However, they are often overlook and ignored for possibly just that reason. However, storytelling is apparently a primal need in human beings in that there is no culture without a story, no civilization without some mythology or religion that creates a deeper reality within reality. In the past these tales have been told as:

…myth and bardic epic. One reason why it has been possible for scholars in our own century to discover' the therapeutic potential of traditional folk tales is precisely because it has always been there. Those tales formed part of a collective, oral culture which spoke to a collective psyche, not a collection of individual psyches, and which inevitably embodied messages of broad relevance to the community in general. (Crago 1999: 164-165)

This "broad relevance" is exactly what a child's story is all about.

Another broad stroke of relevance that allows Mesopotamian Literature to easily blend into a Judeo-Christian background is the similar doctrine of rewards and punishments present inf the doctrine of Zoroaster. There is found the reward of heavenly bliss after death for those men judged good or the punishment of eternal damnation for those who are judged evil. This is identical to that found in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The exiled Hebrews in Babylon found a kindred monotheistic creed in Persian religion, and one of their own prophets, Isaiah, declared openly that Cyrus as their liberator was Yahweh's anointed. The old idea of the nether world, Sheol, a shadowy abode for all the dead, gave place to a system of dividing the sheep from the goats (Cotterell 1986:11)

Thus the similar ethical doctrine present as well as the familiar stories in the biblical tradition allows these Persian tales to be retold with relevance even in today's world. Both flood stories also begin as moral plays. While the reason for the floods slightly differs, both are offenses to higher deities. In the Sumerian case, to the polytheistic panoply of gods that are part of their world and in the Judeo-Christian version to the monotheistic Yahweh / God. "The imminence of the judgment provides an occasion for presenting crucial ethical values. So Noah is presented as preaching to his contemporaries before the flood (1:150-70, 174-98). The sins mentioned are commonplace - violence, deceit, adultery, etc." (Collins 1998:240)

Another reason for taking tales from other cultures and civilizations is to create diversity among the wisdom literature as well as the children's literature of today. Western culture often dominates markets on many levels, from the way people dress to the way people think. This can often lead to a singular view of reality and actually color perceptions to the point that it becomes an innate fear of any difference. This is unacceptable and begins quite young, with what children read and see in their environment. Heng Cheng Duh believe this is an insidious intent not of cultural hegemony but of greed:

Due to the cultural supremacy that has derived from the influx of Western cultural products of all kind, people in order countries becomes accustomed to evaluating aesthetic products according to Western criteria…children's literature in English as a cultural industry stands for the entire body of such texts, and this can exclude or marginalise literatures from 'other' countries. I do not claim that this occurs because of the intentions of those involved in this area of cultural production, but because of the cultural logic of capitalistic production. (Duh 2007: 11)

CONCLUSION

While there are many reasons to write Children's literature, to transfer knowledge or wisdom, to create morality lessons, etc., the main reason as far as this writer is concerned is to transmit imagination. By taking the stories of other cultures and civilization and re-creating them in this genre, Children's literature, and one can expand the universe of the child and give he or she another window onto reality. While it is certainly a survival instinct to want to participate in the overall group ethic and custom, in today's world of diversity and intercultural relationships, this can be a detriment.

By expanding the knowledge and wisdom base of a child early on, it is hoped that he or she will develop a greater sense of understanding and sensitivity to other cultures and races that previous generations have not experienced. Furthermore, it is the belief of this writer that by exposing rather than limiting children's exposure to ways other than the dominant group's ideologies, the concept of racism will slowly some to an end. Perhaps not in this coming century, but eventually as the world becomes a smaller and smaller place to live. What better place to start than in the mind and heart of a child?

List of References

Adams, Gillian. 2004. "16 Ancient and Medieval Children's Texts." pp. 225-238 in International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, vol. 1, edited by Hunt, Peter. London: Routledge.

Ancient Babylonia - Gilgamesh Tablet. 2009. Bible History. Retrieved 2 August 2010 (http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaGilgamesh_Tablet.htm.).

Bell, Robert H. 2005. "Inside the Wardrobe: Is 'Narnia' a Christian Allegory?." Commonweal, December 16, pp. 12-15

Bible Maps. 2009. Genisis Files. Retrieved on 6 August 2010 (http://www.genesisfiles.com/Mtararat.htm)

Bosmajian, Hamida. 1999. "8 Reading the Unconscious: Psychoanalytical Criticism." pp. 100-111 in Understanding Children's Literature, edited by Hunt, Peter. London: Routledge.

Carpenter, Humphrey, and Mari Prichard. 1999. The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Collins, John J. 1998. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.

Cotterell, Arthur. 1986. A Dictionary of World Mythology. Revised ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Crago, Hugh. 1999. "14 Can Stories Heal?." pp. 163-173 in Understanding Children's Literature, edited by Hunt, Peter. London: Routledge.

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APENDIX I

The great flood (Babylonian version)

The story of the great flood was one of the most popular narratives in ancient times. It was written in several languages and reworked to suit different regions and cultures. Here it is retold from the versions that have survived from ancient Iraq, written in both Sumerian and Akkadian.