There Are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

“Tell me the story of the Flood…” “What do you want to know about it, my heart?” “How did it start?” “With a single drop of water.” Grandma cranes her head as if to see better through a keyhole into some other space. “It fell from the infinite skies—a harbinger of what was to come. No one paid it any attention, of course. Then it started to rain in earnest, and it didn’t stop for days and nights. The rivers rose, the land disappeared. Many died, but we Yazidis were saved thanks to a brave woman—her name was Pira-Fat.” “Wait! What happened to Baba Noah and the Ark?” “That was the first Flood, Tofanê Nebî Noh—it affected the children of Adam and Eve. As I told you before, we descend from Adam alone; Eve was not involved in our creation. The second Flood impacted the Yazidis, but we survived.” “How?” “Thanks to Mother Pira-Fat. She could float above the waters like a bird or a butterfly or an angel, you might also say. In her hands she held a glass jar. She put our seeds there, and after the waters retreated she planted our seeds, and so we grew back like plants and populated the earth again.” “So there were two Floods, then?” “At least two, for sure. But when I was a girl I heard community elders say, actually, there were three—if not more.” Narin sighs. “I just don’t understand why God keeps doing this.” “Doing what?” “I mean, afflicting us with storms and torrents.” “Well, others might say it is His way of punishing humans for going astray. The waves are sent down to clean...