Four Birds of Noah's Ark: A Prayer Book from the Time of ShakespeareA timeless, little known literary classic to engage a new generation of readers As the Black Death ravaged London in 1608, in the midst of societal chaos and tragedy, playwright Thomas Dekker wrote Four Birds of Noah's Ark, a book containing fifty six prayers for the people of London and all of England. The prayers in this book bear witness to Dekker's deep faith with a power and poignancy that few written prayers in English literature achieve.