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How the Dog Got a Wet Nose
(From an old Hebrew tale)

When a man named Noah started building a boat out in the middle of a desert, everybody laughed. They thought he was daft. But Noah wasn't listening to them, he was listening to the God of the Hebrews, who said to build a boat. So Noah built a boat.

Noah called his boat an ark. When he finished it, he rounded up all the animals, two by two, to travel on his ark. People laughed at Noah's possums and panthers and penguins. They laughed at his cheetahs and chinchillas, giraffes and gazelles, and rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses. Into the ark went all the animals, two by two.

Pretty soon, it started to rain. It rained, and it poured, and it rained some more. People stopped laughing and the ark started floating. Noah and his family and all the animals, two by two, rode safely on the waters. They sailed for forty days and forty nights.

When the rains stopped, out of the ark came Noah and his family and all of the animals, two by two. Except one. No one could find the little dog.

Noah searched everywhere. He looked on the first deck. He looked on the second deck, then the third deck. Finally, in the farthest corner in the lowest deck, he found the little dog. The dog was shivering and standing with his nose pressed hard against the side of the boat.

"Come here, little dog!" called Noah. "It's time to come out! Here, doggie, doggie!" The little dog wouldn't move. Noah gently pulled him away.

"What's this?" said Noah. "A hole in the ark! The ark might have sunk! Little dog! You kept us safe -- me, my family and all of the animals, two by two! With your little nose!"

The little dog was proud. But mostly, he was hungry.

"Little dog," said Noah, as he pulled out a juicy bone, "so all the world and all the generations will know your great deed, your nose will always be cold and wet, just as it is today."

That's how the dog got his cold, wet nose. When you feel it, remember the little dog who used his nose to protect Noah, his family and all the animals, two by two.

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