THE KRAKEN. 
51 
shot on board which fastened itself on Hans ; he was 
dragged from amongst them towards the strange floating- 
mass ; there was a commotion ; from the foaming sea 
upreared themselves, as it seemed to Eric and Olaf, several 
writhing serpents, which twined themselves around Hans ; 
and as they gazed, helpless, in horror and bewilderment, 
the monster sank, and with a mighty swirl the waters 
closed for ever over their unfortunate companion. The 
men would naturally hasten home, and describe the dread- 
ful incident — their imagination excited by its mysterious 
nature ; the tale would spread through the district, losing- 
nothing by repetition, and within a week the fabled Kraken 
would be the result. 
The existence, in almost every sea, of calamaries capable 
of playing their part in such a scene has been fully proved, 
and this vexed question of marine zoology set at rest for 
ever. The " much greater light on this subject," which, as 
Pontoppidan sagaciously foresaw, v/as "reserved for pos- 
terity," has been thrown upon it by the discoveries of the 
last few years ; and the " further experience which is 
always the best instructor," and which he correctly antici- 
pated would be possessed by the future writers," to whom 
he bequeathed the completion of his "sketch," has been 
obtained. Viewed by their aid, and seen in the clearer 
atmosphere of our present knowledge, the great sea-monster 
which loomed so indefinitely vast in the mist of ignorance and 
superstition, stands revealed in its true form and proportions 
• — its magnitude reduced, its outline distinct, and its mystery 
gone — and we recognise in the supposed Kraken, as the 
Norwegian bishop rightly conjectured that we should, an 
animal " of the Polypus (or cuttle) kind, and amongst the 
largest inhabitants of the ocean." 
E 2 
