2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
The ocean has long been considered an exciting and mysterious element. Our ancestors endowed each phenomenon with a soul and qualities inherent in a living being. People who lived on the seashore saw the strength and rebelliousness of the endless raging waters and explained the unpredictability of the elements with myths about sea lords and monsters. If the sky was covered with black clouds and the waves were aggressively beating against the stone shore, it means that the sea king was angry with something. If the surface of the water is calm and the sky is clear, then everything is fine in the depths of the ocean, and a person on land has no reason to worry.
Sea life
The diversity of the animal world of the seas and oceans to this day does not cease to amaze us and surprise us. What can we say about the ancestors who did not have the opportunity to explore the ocean depths, and they could only guess about the content of the underwater world from those creatures that appeared above the surface of the water, in order to immediately hide again in the depths. Often a person saw rather large specimens of marine life and naturally attributed supernatural qualities to them. Because only even more mysterious animals can live in the mysterious sea-ocean, whichare a danger to anyone who dares to try to subdue their element.
Fish Tales
Everyone loves fish. Both adults and children. What could be more mysterious and wonderful than the depths of the ocean? For children, "The Tale of the Goldfish" and "By the Pike" were written. The fish in these and many similar works fulfill the desires of the person who left them life and freedom. Adults will enjoy the ironic tales of S altykov-Shchedrin about crucians, ruffs and minnows, whose behavior is a caricature of human vices in society. There are also legends and tales about fish and monsters among different peoples, whose representatives believed that, for example, the ships of travelers do not just sink in the depths of the sea, but are eaten by a huge monster, in which a whole fleet can easily fit in its belly. True, this miracle may not look like a fish at all, and a whale too. Since sea fish used to mean snake-like voracious dragons that did not exist in reality. For example, Leviathan from the Bible.
There are also fairy tales about fish that will be of interest to all ages. For example, the tale of Mamin-Sibiryak about Ruff Ershovich, Sparrow Vorobeich and the cheerful chimney sweep Yasha. Or "The Tale of Ersh Ershovich, son of Shchetinnikov." In both stories, animals are judged and a useful moral is revealed at the end. These tales will be interesting to analyze with the whole family.
Whalefish
Since ancient times, people called all marine lifefish, regardless of which biological class the creature belonged to. This is how the legends about the miracle-yudo fish-whale appeared, which is so huge that it holds an entire city with villages, churches, arable land and pastures on its back. Here we recall the ancient teaching that the Earth stands on three pillars. And now the main terms of any science are called whales. The city in fairy tales about the wonder fish is often built on a poor animal as a punishment for having swallowed many ships with travelers who have been in its belly for a long time. But even the most fabulous tale about a whale fish will not convey the primitive fear of our ancestors before the bottomless ocean, which, according to their ideas, is teeming with sea monsters. It was believed that the wooden ships of sailors did not disappear without a trace. They were necessarily pulled to the bottom by huge monsters living in s alty waters.
Real whale fish prototypes
It is clear to us that mythological creatures were not invented out of thin air. Their real relatives became real animals, many of which exist to this day. Like all stories about various sea monsters, the tale of the whale fish also has a real prototype. In the paintings of artists who illustrated stories about the miracle fish, the minke whale is mainly depicted. The largest representative of minke whales reaches a length of 30 meters. It is a pity that this size is not enough to place even the smallest town on the back of an animal. In addition, the whales of this family feed on plankton and will not be able to swallowship.
The Tale "Humpbacked Horse" about a whale fish
The author of the work "The Little Humpbacked Horse" P. P. Ershov tells about the adventures of Ivan the peasant son, the youngest of three brothers, and the Little Humpbacked Horse, who, by a combination of strange circumstances, inherited. Ivan with a skate performs various assignments for the tsar, for whom they serve. During one of the tasks, Ivan and the Hunchback come to the sea, where they see a miracle Yudo with a whole city on its back. Undoubtedly, Ershov's work is the most famous fairy tale about the whale's miracle fish. It describes in most detail both the whale fish itself and its character and lifestyle. A huge fish asks Ivan to find out why she was punished by carrying an entire city on her back. When the heroes find out the cause of the whale's troubles and thereby free him from the burden, the miracle fish promises to fulfill any request from Ivan. Well done asks to find at the bottom of the sea the ring of the maiden - the future wife of the old king, which the huge fish gladly fulfills.
Images of whale fish
The fantasy of artists always works well, so the miracle Yudo whale has already been depicted in all possible shapes and sizes. One of the most illustrative works came out from under the brush of the artist N. Kochergin. The tale of the whale fish in books is often illustrated by his painting. It depicts a huge whale, the tail of which has turned into forests and mountains, a river flows from them, a city spreads on its back, and on its head cheerful inhabitants dance around a fountain that beats from the crown of a whale. This is the picture we see in the fairy tale about the Little Humpbacked Horse. Also in the foreground are paintings. Ivan himself is also depicted with a horse, who listen to the request of a sea monster.
Fish in the works of S altykov-Shchedrin
Writers often ridicule their contemporaries by dressing them up in images of some kind of animal. The fairy tale "Karas-idealist" is just built on this principle. Carp and ruff love to argue about virtue and the future of the fish society. They are buried in a still pool overgrown with grass and begin to rant. Karas believes that the fish will soon all agree with each other, stop eating each other, and then peace will come in all reservoirs. Ruff, like a more experienced fish that has seen bad things, laughs at the words of the crucian and claims that nothing good will come next. Because nature arranged it this way, and no one can influence the established foundations. The crucian decides to tell the pike that called him about his freedom-loving thoughts, and as a result, she is so taken aback by his naive words that she opens her mouth in surprise and swallows the crucian whole.
"The Wise Gudgeon" is another instructive tale about S altykov-Shchedrin's fish for adults and children. From childhood, the father taught the minnow to look into both eyes and be careful not to get caught in the mouth of a pike or people in the ear. The minnow was so afraid of being eaten that he spent his whole life sitting in a dark cramped hole, not making friends with anyone and not starting a family. He understood the meaninglessness of his life only when he prepared to die of old age. And he died, forgotten by everyone and not wanted by anyone.
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