SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT THE DOLPHIN. 691 



SUPEKSTITIONS ABOUT THE DOLPHIN. 



By Db. BIEDEKMANN, 



of the gtitnasiuji of iialle. 



nVTO animal of the sea or land figures more frequently in the fan- 

 4-^ ciful creations of the Greeks and Romans than the dolphin, king 

 of the Mediterranean Sea. It is represented in their myths as an attri- 

 bute, symbol, companion, and servitor of the mighty gods, who were 

 themselves not ashamed to borrow its form ; in the epics as the friend 

 and delivei'er of the Grecian heroes, even of historical men, whom it 

 carried on its back over the waters ; in the stories as the playmate and 

 fondling of handsome boys, whose death it could not survive. As in 

 poetic art, so was it also adopted as a form of beauty down to the latest 

 after-bloom of Roman plastic arts of design, equally in painting and as 

 an ornament on the articles of daily life, on vases, coins, and cut stones, 

 on, the borders of Etruscan mirrors, etc. It is not strange, then, that 

 these motives entered even the scientific work of antiquity, and the 

 dolphin was elevated into an ethical type of the animal world, ^lian 

 ascribed to it a parental love that did not fear death for the sake of its 

 young. The mother would not forsake her young one w^hen it was 

 caught, but would share captivity and death with it ; if one of two 

 was taken, the mother would drive the other away from the danger, 

 and then go back to perish with the caught one, JElian tells of many 

 such traits which seem to reveal a kind of human nature in the dolphin, 

 and to connect it most intimately with man and his sea-life. Dolphins 

 were said to accompany the ship of the hardy sailor over the solitary 

 sea, to endeavor to entertain him with their sportive movements, and 

 to be so confiding that, if they were called by the name of Simon, they' 

 would come up and help the fisherman in his work of driving the fish 

 ipto his net. They forewarned him of the storm, also had a good feel- 

 ing toward bathing boys, and exhibited thankfulness toward man/ 

 The spiritual qualities of the dolphin appeared not less deep to an- 

 tiquity. If a dolphin was caught, he would greedily eat all the fish 

 that were caught with him, then would break the net and escape j 

 hence the wise fisherman, if he casually caught a dolphin, would draw 

 a rush through his nose and let him go, marking him for another time.' 

 That such an animal, to which a lavish fancy ascribed so many noble 

 qualities, should have enjoyed in reality a certain degree of honor and' 

 indulgence, follows as a matter of course, especially when it is remera~ 

 bered that the dolphin was of little value when caught, but when at large- 

 could often make himself very useful by driving up the smaller fishes- 

 toward the nets, as the whale does in the herring-fishery. The south-' 

 ern people, who were otherwise not particular as to the quality of their 

 food, spared the dolphin, and it is still considered inviolable on the 

 Sea of Marmora. With a few exceptions, dolphins were abhorred by 



