Cultures around the world have flood legends that remind us that, yes, there was a real event that inspired these distorted memories.

Consider one legend from Tanzania. It tells of an old man, his wife, and their son and his wife. All the world’s water hung in a small pot in their hut, and it was not to be touched. But the curious daughter-in-law touched the pot and it smashed, causing a flood. All the people and animals on Earth drowned.

While this account doesn’t exactly match the true account found in the Bible, it’s a distorted memory of the time when sin entered creation and when mankind was judged with a flood.