The Island Whale
It’s a tale as old as time, or at least one that’s been told consistently for a few thousand years. A ship sails up to an island, anchors to it, and unloads its crew. The men start a fire, and the island suddenly heaves up and sinks, dragging the poor souls with it. The moral of the story? Don’t start a fire on a giant whale’s back. Well, it’s more complicated than that.
From Alexander the Great to the Arabian Nights on up to the Carta Marina, the island whale has served as an enduring sea myth. It can be just a regular old tall tale, or take on complicated religious symbolism: The whale is the devil, whose sweet breath lures fish, and fixing yourself to him will be your downfall. John Milton would later invoke the brute in Paradise Lost, comparing Lucifer – chained and sprawled out in a burning lake in hell – to an island whale, which I assume is some kind of fat joke.
