Land Ho!
A long time ago there were stories of sailors thinking that a whale was land. So they got out of the boat and stepped onto the "land" and built a fire to cook on. They were really surprised when the whale got too hot and dove into the water.
Jonah and the Whale
The best known whale story is from the Bible. It is about a man named Jonah who doesn't listen to God and runs away on a ship. A really bad storm came and all the sailors knew it was Jonah's fault so they threw him overboard.
Then he was swallowed by a whale. He was in the whale for three days and nights. Finally the whale spat him up on the beach. Then Jonah went Ninva and preached to them. And in the end the people came to know God, and God spared the city.
The Whale And The Sea Slug
One of Aesop's fables was about a rabbit and a turtle. There is a Japanese folk tale very similar to the fable. Here's how it goes.
Once there was a great whale and a small but very smart sea slug. The whale loved to brag. One day the whale challenged the sea slug to a race. The race would be in three days.
The sea slug asked his friend sea slugs to go to every finish line and wait. So the race began and the sea slugs just stood at the finish line while the whale was racing far ahead. When the whale got to the finish line the sea slug's friends said " You just got here?" Then the whale had a race at another beach and the sea slug won again. This went on and on. Finally the whale gave up. He had been beat and never bragged again.
The Legend Of The Great Killer Whale By: Daisy Kyriss
One day in a far away land a great black whale lived in peace. The whale was happy... until a school of fish on their way to class came by and said "Teacher, why doesn't that whale have any color like us? The teacher then replied " He probably fell in a bucket of paint." The fish laughed all the way to school.
The whale's friend the otter felt sorry for the whale and said " Whale, why don't you go to the white water?" The whale then answered " I would if I could." The otter didn't get it so the whale explained.
" The evil sea god Peara was about to eat me for a whale sandwich, but I made a deal I would never go to the white waters."
The otter had an idea. Quickly, she went and found a bucket then swam to the white waters. The otter came back with a bucket of white water. Then the otter accidentally spilled it at the very same time the white water tides had gone back to the Arctic Ocean.
Sara the good sea goddess saw what happened and made the spilled white water fall on the whale. She named the black whale Orca, after her father Orcinus.
Peara the evil sea god heard of this and got mad. He made 10% of the whales' seven offspring smaller and brownish black. That was how the killer whale and the false killer whales came to be.
|
Whale Brother By: Barbara Steiner City: New York, Published by: Walker Omu wants to find out how to make beautiful whale bone carvings. He also wants to find inspiration on his harp. He finds that inspiration when he stands beside a dying killer whale. |
Whale in the Sky By: Anne Siberel This story tells about an Indian totem pole that tells the story of how Thunder Bird punishes a whale for chasing salmon and scaring frogs.
|
|
The Three Investigators in The Case Of The Kidnapped Whale By: Mark Brandel City: New York, Published by: Random House, 1983 The three investigators try to find a kidnapped whale, but they end up looking for buried treasure!
|
Stranded By: Eric David Tony sees beached whale following each other to land. So the scientist tries to find out why there doing this.
|
|
Joshua Disobeys By: Dennis Volmer Published By: Land Mark, 1988 A baby whale disobeys his mother and goes up to the surface to see a human boy and becomes stranded.
|
Amos and Borris By: William Steig Published by: Farrar, City: New York Amos is a mouse and Borris is a huge whale. They have one thing in common, they're mammals.They end up saving each other.
|
|
Maude and Claude Go Overboard By: Susan Meddaugh Published by: Houghton Mifflin, City: Boston Maude and Claude are going to France when they fall out of the boat. They meet a whale being chased by harpoons. They try to save the whale. |
|
|
|
.................