Aspidochelone

According to the tradition of the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries, the aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature, variously described as a large whale or sea turtle, that is as large as an island. The name aspidochelone appears to be a compound word combining Greek aspis (which means either "asp" or "shield"), and chelone, the turtle. It rises to the surface from the depths of the sea, and entices unwitting sailors to make landfall on its huge shell. In the moralistic allegory of the Physiologus and bestiary tradition, the aspidochelone represents Satan, who deceives those whom he seeks to devour.[1][2]

Accounts of seafarers' encounters with gigantic fish appear in various other works, including the Book of Jonah and the 19th century books Pinocchio and The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen.

Contents

In the Physiologus

One version of the Latin text of the Physiologus reads:

"There is a monster in the sea which in Greek is called aspidochelone, in Latin "asp-turtle"; it is a great whale, that has what appear to be beaches on its hide, like those from the sea-shore. This creature raises its back above the waves of the sea, so that sailors believe that it is just an island, so that when they see it, it appears to them to be a sandy beach such as is common along the sea-shore. Believing it to be an island, they beach their ship alongside it, and disembarking, they plant stakes and tie up the ships. Then, in order to cook a meal after this work, they make fires on the sand as if on land. But when the monster feels the heat of these fires, it immediately submerges into the water, and pulls the ship into the depths of the sea.
Such is the fate of all who pay no heed to the Devil and his wiles, and place their hopes in him: tied to him by their works, they are submerged into the burning fire of Gehenna: for such is his guile."[3]

In The Whale

A similar tale is told by the Old English poem The Whale, where the monster appears under the name Fastitocalon. This is apparently a variant of Aspidochelone, and the name given to the Devil. The poem has an unknown author, and is one of three poems in the Exeter Book that are allegorical in nature, the other two being The Phoenix and The Panther.[4]

Nu ic fitte gen ymb fisca cynn
wille woðcræfte wordum cyþan
þurh modgemynd bi þam miclan hwale.
Se bið unwillum oft gemeted,
frecne ond ferðgrim, fareðlacendum,
niþþa gehwylcum; þam is noma cenned,
fyrnstreama geflotan, Fastitocalon.
Is þæs hiw gelic hreofum stane,
swylce worie bi wædes ofre,
sondbeorgum ymbseald, særyrica mæst,
swa þæt wenaþ wægliþende
þæt hy on ealond sum eagum wliten,
ond þonne gehydað heahstefn scipu
to þam unlonde oncyrrapum . . .
"This time I will with poetic art rehearse, by means of words and wit, a poem about a kind of fish, the great sea-monster which is often unwillingly met, terrible and cruel-hearted to seafarers, yea, to every man; this swimmer of the ocean-streams is known as the asp-turtle.
His appearance is like that of a rough boulder, as if there were tossing by the shore a great ocean-reedbank begirt with sand-dunes, so that seamen imagine they are gazing upon an island, and moor their high-prowed ships with cables to that false land, make fast the ocean-coursers at the sea's end, and, bold of heart, climb up."

The moral of the story remains the same:

Swa bið scinna þeaw,
deofla wise, þæt hi drohtende
þurh dyrne meaht duguðe beswicað,
ond on teosu tyhtaþ tilra dæda. . .
"Such is the way of demons, the wont of devils: they spend their lives in outwitting men by their secret power, inciting them to the corruption of good deeds, misguiding . . ."[5]

In The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, J. R. R. Tolkien made a little verse that claimed the name "Fastitocalon" from The Whale, and told a similar story:

Look, there is Fastitocalon!
An island good to land upon,
Although 'tis rather bare.
Come, leave the sea! And let us run,
Or dance, or lie down in the sun!
See, gulls are sitting there!
Beware!

As such, Tolkien imported the traditional tale of the aspidochelone into the lore of his Middle-earth.

Sources of the story

Pliny the Elder's Natural History tells the story of a giant fish, which he names pristis, of immense size; he also relates the tale of sailors landing on its back, only to discover that it was not in fact land when it submerged.[6]

The allegory of the Aspidochelone borrows from the account of whales in Saint Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae. Isidore likens the whale to the Devil, and as authority cites the prophet Jonah; the Vulgate translation of the Book of Jonah translates Jonah 2:2 as Exaudivit me de ventre inferni: "He (the Lord) heard me from the belly of Hell". On this authority, Isidore equates whales with the Devil.[7]

Jasconius

A similar monster appears in the Legend of Saint Brendan, where it was called Jasconius. Because of its size, Brendan and his fellow voyagers mistake it for an island and land to make camp. They celebrate Easter on the sleeping giant's back, but awaken it when they light their campfire. They race to their ship, and Brendan explains that the moving island is really Jasconius, who labors unsuccessfully to put his tail in its mouth.[8]

The same tale of a sea monster that is mistaken for an island is told in the first voyage of Sinbad the Sailor in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.[9]

The name Jasconius is also used for the whale in the children's book The Adventures of Louey and Frank by Carolyn White. She attributes the name to having grown up with the legend of Brendan.[10]

The Magic: the Gathering card game also features a card named Island Fish Jasconius, the art of which is a massive fish bearing tropical foliage on its back.

Milton

John Milton also alludes to the tale of the aspidochelone in his account of the Leviathan in Paradise Lost. Milton again uses the monster as a metaphor for Satan:

. . . or that sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim th' ocean-stream.
Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lee, while night
Invests the sea, and wished morn delays.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rose, Carol: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth (Norton, 2001; ISBN 0-393-32211-4)
  2. ^ J. R. R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, no. 255; Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien, eds. (Allen & Unwin, 1981; ISBN 0-261-10265-6)
  3. ^ Est belua in mare quae dicitur graece aspidochelone, latine autem aspido testudo; cetus ergo est magnus, habens super corium suum tamquam sabulones, sicut iuxta littora maris. Haec in medio pelago eleuat dorsum suum super undas maris sursum; ita ut nauigantibus nautis non aliud credatur esse quam insula, praecipue cum uiderint totum locum illum sicut in omnibus littoribus maris sabulonibus esse repletum. Putantes autem insulam esse, applicant nauem suam iuxta eam, et descendentes figunt palos et alligant naues; deinde ut coquant sibi cibos post laborem, faciunt ibi focos super arenam quasi super terram; illa uero belua, cum senserit ardorem ignis, subito mergit se in aquam, et nauem secum trahit in profundum maris.
    Sic patiuntur omnes qui increduli sunt et quicumque ignorant diaboli astutias, spem suam ponentes in eum; et operibus eius se obligantes, simul merguntur cum illo in gehennam ignis ardentis: ita astutia eius.

    Anonymous, Physiologus Latinus versio B. Accessed Nov. 19, 2007. Translation for Wikipedia.
  4. ^ Albert Stanburrough Cook, ed (1821). The Old English Physiologus. Volume 63 of Yale studies in English. Verse translated by James Hall Pitman. Yale university press. p. 23. http://books.google.de/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YYYSAAAAYAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=Fastitocalon&ots=9898P6pz-k&sig=6n2FCICxghIIwZZA8VsuOt4G3jg#v=onepage&q=Fastitocalon&f=false. 
  5. ^ Albert S. Cook, The Old English Physiologus (Project Gutenberg online version, 2004)
  6. ^ Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, book 9, ch. 4 (Latin)
  7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae XII:6 (Latin), accessed Nov. 18, 2007
  8. ^ Anonymous, Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis, ch. 11, 23. (Latin), accessed Nov. 18, 2007
  9. ^ Anonymous, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, ss. 538-539 (Burton translation)
  10. ^ Interview with Carolyn White. harperchildrens.com. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  11. ^ John Milton, Paradise Lost, book 1:192-282.

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