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[Le Blog Personnel de Professeur Arronax] August 1st 1867

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 11:51:29 -0800 (PST)
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

I am beginning to think it is all one giant wild narwhal chase (as
opposed to a wild goose chase). We've been at sea for nearly three
months no, have travelled down the eastern coast of the United States
(where there had been two sightings), down the coast of South America,
rounding Cape Horn and back up the western side and are currently
located level with Mexico but more or less in the middle of the Pacific
and not a single sighting of this thing. It's no surprise then that I
am feeling as my English friends would say "down in the dumps" and it
is not a position I like. Thank goodness then that Ned decided that
myself, and indeed the rest of the crew needed perking up so he asked
me if I was familiar with sea shanties. I replied that I knew of them
but couldn't rightly say that I knew well enough to sing along to.

At that moment Ned smiled grabbed a nearby accordion and started to
relate what he called "a whale of a tale!". It was indeed quite a
bouncy tune and seemed to relate Ned's previous romantic conquests
involving girls from Madagascar and Java. It certainly got the crew in
a good mood and I have to admit that the chorus was so catchy that even
I started to sing along:

"Got a whale of a tale to tell you lads, a whale of a tale or two,
about the flapping fish and girls that I loved, on nights like this
with the moon above, a whale of a tale and it's all true, I swear by my
tattoo!"

However, the third verse stopped me in my tracks when he said "There's
no sea monster big enough to ever frighten me!". My mother always told
me never to mock something you don't know about, and this thing being
350 ft long and able to survive depths that resemble a hydraulic press
that certainly counts as something I don't know about!

--
Posted By Harry Hayfield to Le Blog Personnel de Professeur Arronax on
1/04/2010 07:25:00 PM

Received on Mon 04 Jan 2010 - 21:51:43 IST

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