FullReads

“I don’t know about that; but I’d like to hear what you eat, and how you live, and why you came here,” said Freddy, who thought the whale rather inclined to boast.

“Well, we haven’t got any teeth,–our branch of the family; and we live on creatures so small, that you could only see them with a microscope. Yes, you may stare; but it’s true, my dear. The roofs of our mouths are made of whalebone, in broad pieces from six to eight feet long, arranged one against the other; so they make an immense sieve. The tongue, which makes about five barrels of oil, lies below, like a cushion of white satin. When we want to feed, we rush through the water, which is full of the little things we eat, and catch them in our sieve, spurting the water through two holes in our heads. Then we collect the food with our tongue, and swallow it; for, though we are so big, our throats are small. We roam about in the ocean, leaping and floating, feeding and spouting, flying from our enemies, or fighting bravely to defend our young ones.”

“Have you got any enemies? I shouldn’t think you could have, you are so large,” said Freddy.

“But we have, and many too,–three who attack us in the water, and several more that men use against us. The killer, the sword-fish, and the thrasher trouble us at home. The killer fastens to us, and won’t be shaken off till he has worried us to death; the sword-fish stabs us with his sword; and the thrasher whips us to death with his own slender, but strong and heavy body. Then, men harpoon us, shoot or entrap us; and make us into oil and candles and seats, and stiffening for gowns and umbrellas,” said the bone, in a tone of scorn.

Freddy laughed at the idea, and asked, “How about candles? I know about oil and seats and umbrellas; but I thought candles were made of wax.”

“I can’t say much on that point: I only know that, when a sperm whale is killed, they make oil out of the fat part as they do of ours; but the Sperms have a sort of cistern in their heads, full of stuff like cream, and rose-colored. They cut a hole in the skull, and dip it out; and sometimes get sixteen or twenty barrels. This is made into what you call spermaceti candles. We don’t have any such nonsense about us; but the Sperms always were a light-headed set.”

Here the bone laughed, in a cracked sort of roar, which sent Freddy flying off the seat on to the grass, where he stayed, laughing also, though he didn’t see any joke.

“I beg your pardon, child. It isn’t often that I laugh; for I’ve a heavy heart somewhere, and have known trouble enough to make me as sad as the sea is sometimes.”

“Tell me about your troubles; I pity you very much, and like to hear you talk,” said Freddy, kindly.

“Unfortunately we are very easily killed, in spite of our size; and have various afflictions besides death. We grow blind; our jaws are deformed sometimes; our tails, with which we swim, get hurt; and we have dyspepsia.”

Freddy shouted at that; for he knew what dyspepsia was, because at the sea-side there were many sickly people who were always groaning about that disease.

“It’s no laughing matter, I assure you,” said the whale’s bone. “We suffer a great deal, and get thin and weak and miserable. I’ve sometimes thought that’s the reason we are blue.”

“Perhaps, as you have no teeth, you don’t chew your food enough, and so have dyspepsia, like an old gentleman I know,” said Freddy.

“That’s not the reason; my cousins, the Sperms, have teeth, and dyspepsia also.”

“Are they blue?”

“No, black and white. But I was going to tell you my troubles. My father was harpooned when I was very young, and I remember how bravely he died. The Rights usually run away when they see a whaler coming; not from cowardice,–oh, dear, no!–but discretion. The Sperms stay and fight, and are killed off very fast; for they are a very headstrong family. We fight when we can’t help it; and my father died like a hero. They chased him five hours before they stuck him; he tried to get away, and dragged three or four boats and sixteen hundred fathoms of line from eight in the morning till four at night. Then they got out another line, and he towed the ship itself for more than an hour. There were fifteen harpoons in him: he chewed up a boat, pitched several men overboard, and damaged the vessel, before they killed him. Ah! he was a father to be proud of.”