12 



WHALES 



Figure I. The oldest drawing oj Cetaceans. Aeolithic rock-drawingjroni Roddoy. 

 (Petersen, igjo) 



animals also played an important part in many Greek legends. We need 

 only recall what happened to Arion, the famous lyric poet and musician, 

 when he returned to Corinth from Italy where he had obtained immense 

 riches by his profession. When the sailors resolved to minder him for his 

 treasures, Arion begged to be allowed to play one last tune, and then 

 threw himself into the sea. His music had attracted a mmiber of dolphins, 

 and one of them carried him safely ashore on its back. 



This theme recurs in a great many Mediterranean fables. Pliny relates 

 the story of the little boy who was carried ashore on the back of a dolphin, 

 an event which, by the way, was commemorated by a special Dutch stamp 

 in 1929 (Fig. 5). Raphael immortalized this story in about a.d. 1500 with 

 a marble statue, now kept in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. His 

 dolphin has human teeth and eyes, its mouth is fish-like and its body is 



will 



Figure 2. Norwegian rock-drawings. Left : a dolphin from Skogervejen. The original drawing 

 was 7 f eet 6 inches long. Right: a whale and f our rowing boats from Meling in Rogaland. 



{Schaf er, i()56). 



