John took Katherine (3.5), Sam (7) and Katie (9) to the Botanical Gardens today and overheard this conversation:

Sam: There aren’t any unicorns anymore.

Katherine: Where did they go?

Sam: Jesus came and flooded the world and they were all killed.

Katie: Sam! Don’t be ridiculous! Jesus wasn’t there. God did it.

When John told me about this one I remembered a conversation I’d had with our niece, Jean, many years ago. She must have been four or five. We were discussing the Flood. Normally I stay clear of discussing religion with other peoples’ children, choosing to err on the side of not contradicting things taught, but I thought it was safe to tell Jean that the idea of a flood was found in a lot of other cultures, too. The Middle-eastern flood myth seemed a safe generalisation to make and fascinated her, as well.

Me: Actually, many cultures have a flood recorded in their history. Some have more than one.

Jean: Were they all the same flood?

Me: Well, there has been more than one small flood in the history of time and quite a few large ones, too. In fact, you hear about floods on the news sometimes even today.

Jean: What happens in a little flood?

Me: Well, usually there’s too much water for a river or lake to hold in and it spills up over the sides. Sometimes this is because of lots of rain or melting snow.

Jean: Does God make those floods happen?

Me: Sometimes. Other times it’s beavers.

John is still laughing….