Walker Hounds Came off the Ark Ralph McGill Jackson, Tenn, Sun The Chase Magazine March, 1946 page Sixteen "I see where the foxhounds are running, down your way," he said. "Yes, about this time every fall, when the leaves begin to turn and the wind blows a little cool, something stirs in the blood and it is necessary to do a little fox hunting." "The Walker hound," he said, "are the finest hounds in the world, the only hounds fitten to run." "You can't get a little argument about that," I said. "The people who favor the July breed are quite vociferous and even violent about it, and the Trigg hound has his devotees." "You wouldn't dispute the Bible, would you?" "Well, no, I don't know that I would. But there isn't....." "I'll tell you how it was. You know it was a long, weary time after the ark grounded on the top of Mount Ararat before the waters got off the earth. "It was 40 long days after she bumped there before Noah opened the window. He sent out the dove, and the dove couldn't find a place to light. So it came back. He waited another seven days and then he sent the dove out again. This time she fetched back the olive leaf. But Noah was a cautious man and he waited another seven days before he removed the covering from the ark. The earth was nice and dry. Noah told them to ready the gangplank. "It was then that Shem and Ham and Japheth and some of their older boys went up to Noah and said: "'Papa, you know we have had us a time with those two foxhounds and those four foxes. Things got mighty dull on the ark for us. But was worse for them. There weren't enough fleas, Papa, to keep them busy scratching. Those two fleas were mighty choosy. They stayed on the St. Bernards nearly all the time, because they had such thick hair and couldn't get to them. "'What is it you are getting at, boys?' said Noah. 'I got a job to do getting the critters back here on the earth.' "'Papa,' they said, 'we all been a-dying for a fox race all the time we been floating on the waters. Let us hold the foxes and the two hounds to be the last off.' "'Well,' said Noah, 'I'll leave that detail to you. But you be sure you let me know when you turn 'em loose. I picked out two fine hounds to go on the ark. "'But, wait a minute. Did you say four foxes?' "Two reds and two grays, Papa.' "'Oh, yes; I forgot about them grays. They can't run with the reds. I'd almost as soon as not have left the grays off.'" LAST OFF "So," aid my visitor, "that's how the foxhounds happened to be the last off the ark. In those days they didn't have all these different breeds--just two hounds. "But, I still don't see how....." "As soon as the animals were distributed around, frisking and happy, Ham and Japheth and their grandchildren went and got the four foxes and tied leads on them and got them about 100 yards from the gangplank. There they released them. "Then Shem and his boys brought out the two hounds. They sniffed the air and they whined. "'Don't you go babbling on me, now,' said Shem. He looked across the way and Ham and Japheth shouted, 'Let 'em go.' "With that he said, 'Holler to Pa,' and turned them loose. Old Noah turned around just as they swept by him after them four foxes, which had high-tailed it for the woods. 'Hil-Yil,' shouted old Noah, throwing his hat at them, and them hounds began to stretch out, their bellies right to the ground. "'Boys,' said Noah, 'that's might pretty music. It's the sweetest sound I've heard since before the flood. Those hounds sure are walking about. Yes, sir, walking about.' A NAME "'You are right as rain, Pa,' said Shem, "they really are walking about in a big way. Man, listen to them go. Never were hounds could trail and travel like that.' "'We got to give them hounds a name,' said Japheth, thoughtfully, 'since this is a brave new world. Everything got to have a name. We'll just call them "Walker," because they sure are walking about after them foxes.' "So that's how," said my visitor, "they got to be named 'Walkers.' You may hear some folks say they were named after a feller by that name. But, son, the Walker hounds came right off the ark, the first and finest hounds in this old world of ours." "You'd better keep a close mouth around the July people. They are mighty touchy." "I never saw a July owner I couldn't whip," he said. "Don't you worry about me, son. That story was told to me by an old man who had seen a parchment right out of an old monastery. A stranger showed it to him when he was a boy. If you don't believe it, you come down home with me and I'll prove it. I'll show you the very grave where the old man was buried--the one that read that parchment."