Andaman Islands

(map)

Some time after their creation, men grew disobedient. In anger, Puluga, the Creator, sent a flood which covered the whole land, except perhaps Saddle Peak where Puluga himself resided. Of all creatures, the only survivors were two men and two women who had the fortune to be in a canoe when the flood came. The waters sank and they landed, but they found themselves in a sad plight. Puluga recreated birds and animals for their use, but the world was still damp and without fire. The ghost of one of the peoples' friends took the form of a kingfisher and tried to steal a brand from Puluga's fire, but he accidentally dropped it on the Creator. Incensed, Puluga hurled the brand at the bird, but it missed and landed where the four flood survivors were seated. After the people had warmed themselves and had leisure to reflect, they began to murmur against the Creator and even plotted to murder him. However, the Creator warned them away from such rash action, explained that men had brought the flood on themselves by their disobedience, and that another such offense would likewise be met with punishment. That was the last time the Creator spoke with men face to face.

Fraser, 1919, 235-236.

One day, in the time of the ancestors, there came a great storm, and the water rose over the land. The rain put out the fires. Da Duku (Sir Monitor Lizard) took a smouldering log and tried to climb up a tree with it. He could not climb with the fire in his hand. His wife In Bain (Lady Civet-cat) took the fire from him, took it to the top of a hill, and there kept it alight till the rain stopped and the water went away. The hill is called Bain l'it-čapa (Bain's fire) to the present day.

A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Andaman Islanders, (Cambridge University Press, 1922), 211-212, quoted with minor punctuation changes.