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Show Wonderful Tales Told of Monster Serpentt From time Immemorial the sea serpent ser-pent has figured In story and legend. I'llny, the Itomuu naturalist (23-71) A. D.) tells of enormous water anl land serpents, some so large that whole armies were sent against them. The hardy Norse . fishermen .gave thrilling rtories of sea monsters. Olaus Magnus, a Swedish bishop, wrote of "a very large serpent of length upward of 200 feet and 20 feet In diameter, with a row of hairs 2 feet In length hanging from the neck, sharp scales of dark color, and brilliant, bril-liant, flaming eyes. It attacks boats and snatches away the men by raising rais-ing Itself high out of the wuter. and devours them." Hans Kgede, a Nor wcglan missionary to Greeuland, tells of cw-ouuterlng, on July 6, 1734, "a very terrible sea animnt, which raised Itself so high above the water thai Its head reached above our maintop. It had a long, sharp snout, and blew like a whale." The oartish, with a body from 23 to 30 feet long, and a I-I I-I most as thin as a ribbon. Is believed by some naturalists to be the creature which gave rise to many remarkable yarns, told from ancient days until now, of "sea serpents." The silvery body, crossed with dusky stripes, the grotesque bead and face, with enlarged en-larged fins tipped with red, waving above like a horse's mane, might well give foundation, It Is said, to almost any story. Still no one can definitely say that the res serpent does not ex-let. |