To Whales

“We saw a number of whales but none so close up as that first one.  I would be alerted to their presence by their spouting.  They would emerge a short distance away, sometimes three or four of them, a short-lived archipelago of volcanic islands.  These gentle behemoths always lifted my spirits.  I was convinced that they understood my condition, that at the sight of me one of them exclaimed, “Oh! It’s that castaway with the pussy cat Bamphoo was telling me about.  Poor boy.  Hope he has enough plankton.  I must tell Mumphoo and Tomphoo and Stimphoo about him.  I wonder if there isn’t a ship around I could alert.  his mother would be very happy to see him again.  Goodbye, my boy.  I’ll try to help.  My name’s Pimphoo.”  And so, through the grapevine, every whale of the Pacific knew of me, and I would have been saved long ago if Pimphoo hadn’t sought help from a Japanese ship whose dastardly crew harpooned her, the same fate as befell Lamphoo at the hands of a Norwegian ship.  The hunting of whales is a heinous crime.” (Life of Pi, 230)