But stories about me struggling with swimming lessons shall be told in other place and time. What I want to focus here is the story of water and all the creatures related to it. I read much enough to realize that almost every culture has a story about sea monsters and creatures living in the water. If you still have no idea what I'm babbling about, i will give you a hint: Hydra, Kraken, Naga, Jormungandr, Leviathan.......ring any bells?
I did some research about this and found out that the stories of sea monsters have been told and believed in many regions worldwide. I even found the story about 'Sea Monster fossils found in Peruvian desert'. Sea Monster. Desert. Yeah I know something is weird here but that's pretty much my point: sea creatures do exist in almost every cultures around the world! The sea monster in desert thing is like, booming all over the news. Isn't that amazing? Consider this: almost 8000 miles far from each other, Scandinavia and South-Southeast Asia share the almost exactly the same stories of sea serpent; one in the name of Jormungandr and other in the name of Naga! How is that even possible? What makes people believe that sea creatures truly exist? Not to mention that there's still some people claim to witness these creatures even in the modern days.
Let me begin with the story of Jormungandr, partly because I'm a big fan of Norse mythology. Jormungandr is the middle child of god Loki. In the Prose Edda told that Jormungandr was thrown into the great ocean that surrounding midgard by Odin. Jormungandr later grew so large that he can encircle the world can eat his own tail. Jormungandr's greatest enemy is Thor, the god of lightning, thunder and strength. When the time of Ragnarok has come, it is predicted that Jormungandr will let go of his own tail, causing the end of the world. He will then poison the sky and eventually will be killed by Thor, who then walk 9 paces before the dead finally take his life because of the serpent's venom.
The story is pretty similar with that of Vritra from Vedic religion of South Asia. Vritra is a serpent that personifies drought, as he kept all the waters in the world captive. It's greatest rival is Indra, the lord of heaven. Indra, of course, slayed Vritra down at the end, returning water to the world. The story of Indra and Hindu mythology will be told some other times but,for now, I must add vaguely that one of the weapons Indra used during the fight is thunderbolts, which is pretty similar to the weapon of Thor.
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| Indra on Airavata |
But sea monster is not only about serpent, it also appears in other forms as well. In Norse mythology told the story of Kraken, a colossally colossal octopus that said to have dwelt off the coast of Iceland and Norway. Kraken appears in many popular culture like, in Jules Verne's 20,000 League Under the Sea. Speaking of which, there are tons of reports about people witnessed a ridiculously huge squid out there in the oceans somewhere. The largest one ever recorded was caught in 2007, I believe.
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| awwwwww! |
However, it has been recorded that the scientist found the squid beak in the sperm whale's stomach that even larger than that of the one they they believe to be the largest (ugh, complicated). So yes, the giant bastard is still somewhere out there, swimming joyfully. Ohhh this reminds me to tell the story of The Squid and The Whale in some other time as well. They are the world's greatest rivals I think. Their stories have been told for many many times and pretty interesting.
Well, I believe there are more and more creatures out there in the sea, in the rivers, in the oceans! Don't get bored too soon, ok?
Stay tune for the second part of this blog:
(currently in progress)
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