When we touched the water
we were marvellously pleased and happy, made as
merry as.we could in every way, and went over the
side for a swim, for by good luck it was calm and the
sea was smooth. It would seem, however, that a change for the
better often proves a prelude to greater ills. We
had sailed just two days in fair weather and the third
day was breaking when toward sunrise we suddenly
saw a number of sea-monsters, whales. One among
them, the largest of all, was fully one hundred and
fifty miles long. He came at us with open mouth,
dashing up the sea far in advance, foam-washed,
showing teeth much larger than the emblems of
Dionysus in our country,
 On the size of these, see Lucian’s Syrian Goddess, 28. and all sharp as calthrops
and white as ivory. We said good-bye to one
another, embraced, and waited. He was there in an




 

instant, and with a gulp swallowed us down, ship
and all. He just missed crushing us with his teeth,
but the boat slipped through the gaps between
them into the interior.

 

When we were inside, it
was dark at first, and we could not see anything,
but afterwards, when he opened his mouth, we saw
a great cavity, flat all over and high, and large
enough for the housing of a great city. In it
there were fish, large and small, and many other
creatures all mangled, ships’ rigging and anchors,
human bones, and merchandise. In the middle
there was land with hills on it, which to my thinking
was formed of the mud that he had swallowed.
Indeed, a forest of all kinds of trees had grown on
it, garden stuff had come up, and_ everything
appeared to be under cultivation. The coast of the
island was twenty-seven miles long. Sea-birds were
to be seen nesting on the trees, gulls and kingfishers.
 This story of the whale is no longer considered a parody
on Jonah’s adventure, as there were other versions of the
tale afloat in antiquity. 

 


At first we shed tears for a long time, and then
I roused my comrades and we provided for the ship
by shoring it up and for ourselves by rubbing sticks
together, lighting a fire and getting dinner as best
we could. We had at hand plenty of fish’ of all
kinds, and we still had the water from the Morning
Star. On rising the next day, whenever the whale
opened his mouth we saw mountains one moment,
nothing but sky the next, and islands frequently,
and we perceived by this that he was rushing swiftly
to all parts of the sea. When at Jength we became



 

wonted to our abiding-place, I took seven of my
comrades and went into the forest, wishing to have
a look at everything. I had not yet gone quite five
furlongs when I found a temple of Poseidon, as the
inscription indicated, and not far from it a number
of graves with stones on them. Near by was a
spring of clear water. We also heard the barking of
a dog, smoke appeared in the distance, and we made
out something like a farmhouse, too.

 


Advancing eagerly, we came upon an old man
and a boy very busily at work in a garden which
they were irrigating with water from the spring.
Joyful and fearful at the same instant, we stopped
still, and they too, probably feeling the same as
we, stood there without a word. In course of time
the old man said: “Who are you, strangers? Are
you sea-gods, or only unlucky men like us? As for
ourselves, though we are men and were bred on land,
we have become sea-creatures and swim about with
this beast which encompasses us, not even knowing for certain what our condition is—we suppose
that we are dead, but trust that we are alive.”
To this I replied: “We too are men, my good
sir—newcomers, who were swallowed up yesterday,
ship and all: and we set out just now with the
notion of finding out how things were in the forest,
for it appeared to be very large and thick. But
some divinity, it seems, brought us to see you and
to discover that we are not the only people shut up
in this animal. Do tell us your adventures—who
you are and how you got in here.” But he said he
would neither tell us nor question us before giving.
us what entertainment he could command, and he


 

took us with him to the house. It was a commodious structure, had bunks built in it and was fully
furnished in other ways. He set before us vegetables,
fruit and fish and poured us out wine as well.
When we had had enough, he asked us what had
happened to us.” I told him about everything from
first to last—the storm, the island, the cruise in the
air, the war and all the rest of it up to our descent
into the whale.