364 A POET'S PICTURE. 



The islanders, discovering the stranded monsters, hasten 

 to make prize of them : 



" They man their boats, and all their young men arm 

 With whatsoever may the monsters harm ; 

 Pikes, halberts, spits, and darts that wound so far, 



The tools of peace and instruments of war 



The boat which on the first assault did go 

 Strook with a harping-iron the younger foe ; 

 Who, when he felt his side so rudely gored, 

 Loud as the sea that nourished him he roared. 

 The bigger whale like some huge carrack lay, 

 Which wanteth sea-room with her foes to play : 

 Slowly she swims, and when provoked she would 

 Advance her tail, her head salutes the mud : 

 The shallow water doth her force infringe, 

 And renders vain her tail's impetuous swinge : 

 The shining steel her tender sides receive, 

 And there, like bees, they all their weapons leave. 



This sees the cub, and does himself oppose 

 Betwixt his cumbered mother and her foes : 

 With desp'rate courage he receives her wounds, 

 And men and boats his active tail confounds ; 

 Their forces joined, the seas with billows fill, 

 And make a tempest though the winds be still." 



The " sucker " now returns to the channel through which 

 she and his mother entered the ocean-pool ; but the tide 

 having ebbed, the latter is unable to effect her escape : 



" She by the rocks compelled to stay behind, 

 Is by the vastness of her bulk confined, 

 They shout for joy ! and now on her alone 

 Their fury falls, and all their darts are thrown ; 

 Their fixed javelins in her sides she wears, 

 And on her back a grove of pikes appears. 

 Roaring, she tears the air with such a noise 

 As well resembled the conspiring voice 

 Of routed armies when the field is won. 

 To reach the ears of her escaping son." 



And now, if we may believe the poet, takes place a 

 miracle of filial devotion ! 



" He, though a league removed from the foe, 

 Hastes to her aid : 

 The men, amazed, blush to see the seed 

 Of monsters human piety exceed. 



