Fish Stories of the Fathers 1 1 



Monk-fish (" Le Monstre marine en habit de Moine "), Ron- 

 delet says, " In our times in Norway, a sea monster has 

 been taken after a great storm, to which, all that saw it, 

 gave the name of monk, for it had a man's face, rude and 

 ungracious, the head shorn and smooth. On the shoulders, 

 like the cloak of a monk, were two long fins instead of arms, 

 and the end of the body was finished by a long tail. The 

 picture I present was given me by that very illustrious lady, 

 Margaret de Valois, queen of Navarre, who received it from 

 a gentleman, who gave a similar one to the emperor, Charles 

 v., then in Spain. This gentleman said that he had seen 

 the monster as the portrait shows it, in Norway, thrown by 

 the waves and tempests on the beach at a place called Dieze, 

 near the town called Dinelopoch." 



Of the Bishop-fish ('' Monstre marine en habit 

 d'Eveque"), Rondelet says: "I have seen the portrait of 

 another sea monster at Rome, whither it had been sent with 

 letters that affirmed that in 1531, one had seen this monster 

 in a bishop's garb as here portrayed, in Poland. Carried to 

 the King of that country, it made certain signs that it had a 

 great desire to return to the sea. Being taken thither, it 

 threw itself instantly into the water." 



Stow, an able writer whose imagination and credulity 

 went hand in hand, tells us that in 1187 some fishermen 

 near Orforde in Suffolke, caught a fish which had the form 

 of a man in all parts. It was kept (note the particulars), 

 by Bartholomew de Glanville, custodian of the Castle of 

 Orforde, for six months, but, says Stow regretfully : " He 

 spake not a word. They took him to the church often, but 

 he showed no tokens of adoration." 



At this time, writers and the people at large believed that 

 the sea contained prototypes of all the animals on land. 

 Thus, if a returned adventurer told of a fish called the 

 " sea cow," in foreign seas, the artist would picture a fish 

 part cow; and so on, through all the animal kingdom. In 

 referring to the sea horse, Gesner states that it is the class- 



