{"id":"01KF7FPSC3CPNSMPDVSC6T0BMZ","cid":"bafkreid574ib65yb34fzwsvlj3zbghgmees5qu7pxjsh7z246skylctdqe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14314,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.387Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":14256,"text":"whaleman; at any rate the whale caught him, if he did not the whale. I\r\nclaim him for one of our clan.\r\n\r\nBut, by the best contradictory authorities, this Grecian story of\r\nHercules and the whale is considered to be derived from the still more\r\nancient Hebrew story of Jonah and the whale; and vice versâ; certainly\r\nthey are very similar. If I claim the demi-god then, why not the\r\nprophet?\r\n\r\nNor do heroes, saints, demigods, and prophets alone comprise the whole\r\nroll of our order. Our grand master is still to be named; for like\r\nroyal kings of old times, we find the head waters of our fraternity in\r\nnothing short of the great gods themselves. That wondrous oriental\r\nstory is now to be rehearsed from the Shaster, which gives us the dread\r\nVishnoo, one of the three persons in the godhead of the Hindoos; gives\r\nus this divine Vishnoo himself for our Lord;—Vishnoo, who, by the first\r\nof his ten earthly incarnations, has for ever set apart and sanctified\r\nthe whale. When Brahma, or the God of Gods, saith the Shaster, resolved\r\nto recreate the world after one of its periodical dissolutions, he gave\r\nbirth to Vishnoo, to preside over the work; but the Vedas, or mystical\r\nbooks, whose perusal would seem to have been indispensable to Vishnoo\r\nbefore beginning the creation, and which therefore must have contained\r\nsomething in the shape of practical hints to young architects, these\r\nVedas were lying at the bottom of the waters; so Vishnoo became\r\nincarnate in a whale, and sounding down in him to the uttermost depths,\r\nrescued the sacred volumes. Was not this Vishnoo a whaleman, then? even\r\nas a man who rides a horse is called a horseman?\r\n\r\nPerseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there’s a\r\nmember-roll for you! What club but the whaleman’s can head off like\r\nthat?\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 83. Jonah Historically Regarded.\r\n\r\nReference was made to the historical story of Jonah and the whale in\r\nthe preceding chapter. Now some Nantucketers rather distrust this\r\nhistorical story of Jonah and the whale. But then there were some\r\nsceptical Greeks and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagans\r\nof their times, equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale,\r\nand Arion and the dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did\r\nnot make those traditions one whit the less facts, for all that.\r\n\r\nOne old Sag-Harbor whaleman’s chief reason for questioning the Hebrew\r\nstory was this:—He had one of those quaint old-fashioned Bibles,\r\nembellished with curious, unscientific plates; one of which represented\r\nJonah’s whale with two spouts in his head—a peculiarity only true with\r\nrespect to a species of the Leviathan (the Right Whale, and the\r\nvarieties of that order), concerning which the fishermen have this\r\nsaying, “A penny roll would choke him”; his swallow is so very small.\r\nBut, to this, Bishop Jebb’s anticipative answer is ready. It is not\r\nnecessary, hints the Bishop, that we consider Jonah as tombed in the\r\nwhale’s belly, but as temporarily lodged in some part of his mouth. And\r\nthis seems reasonable enough in the good Bishop. For truly, the Right\r\nWhale’s mouth would accommodate a couple of whist-tables, and\r\ncomfortably seat all the players. Possibly, too, Jonah might have\r\nensconced himself in a hollow tooth; but, on second thoughts, the Right\r\nWhale is toothless.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPMEZEE60PGAPC0C121CY","peer_label":"The Honor and Glory of Whaling","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPMEZEE60PGAPC0C121CY","peer_label":"The Honor and Glory of Whaling","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KF7FPKDT5SHSH1ZQV6ABHQCA","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"book","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KESYJX0Z6XE0HWTS5N3SDG0B","peer_label":"The Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSCRGGNVRTZJHHC055PK","peer_label":"Chunk 7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSDRPP7M7X0NTG6M3VEZ","peer_label":"Chunk 5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:21.049Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:27.737Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}