'Wherefrom with wilt thou save me?'

'A flood will carry away these creatures: from that I will save thee.'

'How am I to rear thee?'

It said, 'As long as we are small, there is great destruction for us: fish devours fish. Thou wilt first keep me in a jar. When I outgrow that, thou wilt dig a pit and keep me in it. When  I outgrow that, thou wilt take me down to the sea for then I shall be beyond destruction.'

It soon became a large fish... Thereupon it said, 'In such and such a year that flood will come. Thou shalt attend to me (i.e. to my advice) by preparing a ship, and when the flood has risen thou shalt enter into the ship and I shall save thee from it.'

After he had reared it in this way, he took it down to the sea. And in the same year which the fish had indicated to him, he attended to the advice of the fish by preparing a ship, and when the flood had risen he entered the ship. The fish then swam up to him, and to its horn he tied the rope of the ship and by that means he passed swiftly up to yonder northern mountain.

It then said, 'I have saved thee. Fasten the ship to a tree, but let not the water wash thee away whilst thou art on the mountain. As the water subsides, thou mayest gradually descend!'

Accordingly he gracefully descended, and hence that slope of the northern mountain is called Manu's descent."

(Satpatha Brahmana according to Hancock 2)

"When he had been thrown into the ocean he said to Manu: 'Great lord, thou hast in every way preserved me: now hear from me what thou must do when the time arrives. Soon shall all these terrestrial objects ... be dissolved. The time for the purification of the worlds has now arrived. I therefore inform thee what is for thy greatest good. The period dreadful for the universe has come. Make for thyself a strong ship, with a cable attached, embark in it with the Seven Sages and stow in it, carefully preserved and assorted, all the seeds which have been described of old ... When embarked in the ship, look out for me: I shall come recognizable by my horn ... These great waters cannot be crossed over without me."

"Manu, as enjoined, taking with him the seeds, floated on the billowy ocean in the beautiful ship. (The arrival of the enormous fish is then announced.) When Manu saw the horned leviathan, lofty as a mountain, he fastened the ship's cable to the horn.

Being thus attached the fish dragged the ship with great rapidity, transporting it across the briny ocean which seemed to dance with its waves and thunder with its waters. Tossed by the tempests the ship whirled like a reeling and intoxicated woman.

Neither the earth, nor the quarters of the world appeared, there was nothing but water, air and the sky. In the world thus confounded, the Seven Sages, Manu and the fish were beheld.

So, for very many years, the fish unwearied drew the ship over the waters, and brought it at length to the highest peak of Himavat (the Himalayas).

He then smiling gently, said to the Sages, 'Bind this ship without delay to this peak.'

They did so accordingly. And the highest peak of Himavat is still known by the name of Naubandhana ('The Binding of the Ship').

Thereafter, through his advanced yogic powers Manu, the father, 'began visibly to create all living beings' ..."

(Mahabaratha according to Hancock 2)