SECOND PART
CHAPTER 18: The Devilfish
(continued)
"In a church!" the Canadian exclaimed.
"Yes, Ned my friend. It had a picture that portrayed the
devilfish in question."
"Oh good!" Ned Land exclaimed with a burst of laughter.
"Mr. Conseil put one over on me!"
"Actually he's right," I said. "I've heard about that picture.
But the subject it portrays is taken from a legend, and you know
how to rate legends in matters of natural history! Besides, when it's
an issue of monsters, the human imagination always tends to run wild.
People not only claimed these devilfish could drag ships under,
but a certain Olaus Magnus tells of a cephalopod a mile long that looked
more like an island than an animal. There's also the story of how
the Bishop of Trondheim set up an altar one day on an immense rock.
After he finished saying mass, this rock started moving and went
back into the sea. The rock was a devilfish."
"And that's everything we know?" the Canadian asked.
"No," I replied, "another bishop, Pontoppidan of Bergen,
also tells of a devilfish so large a whole cavalry regiment could
maneuver on it."
"They sure did go on, those oldtime bishops!" Ned Land said.
"Finally, the naturalists of antiquity mention some monsters
with mouths as big as a gulf, which were too huge to get through
the Strait of Gibraltar."
"Good work, men!" the Canadian put in.
"But in all these stories, is there any truth?" Conseil asked.
"None at all, my friends, at least in those that go beyond the bounds
of credibility and fly off into fable or legend. Yet for the imaginings
of these storytellers there had to be, if not a cause, at least
an excuse. It can't be denied that some species of squid and other
devilfish are quite large, though still smaller than cetaceans.
Aristotle put the dimensions of one squid at five cubits, or 3.1 meters.
Our fishermen frequently see specimens over 1.8 meters long.
The museums in Trieste and Montpellier have preserved some devilfish
carcasses measuring two meters. Besides, according to the calculations
of naturalists, one of these animals only six feet long would
have tentacles as long as twenty-seven. Which is enough to make
a fearsome monster."
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