Kraken

The Slaying of Hafgufa or How the Blenny Fish, Giant Squid, and Colossal Squid were Created

Poseidon was not lenient on Herazale. His Ten Labors would include ten nearly impossible tasks which would take him far away from his home and require confrontation with all types of monsters of the sea. If Herazale succeeded in completing the tasks, he would not only atone for the death of his children but be granted immortality.

Task One: Slay Hafgufa: also known as the Kraken

Herazale hired a crew and a ship to take him to the North Atlantic in search of the legendary sea monster, Hafgufa. Dwelling off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, the beast had long been known to terrorize passing ships by wrapping its enormous tentacles around a vessel and sinking it into the depths of the sea.

On this particular sunny, calm day, as the kraken was only believed to attack during calm seas, Herazale waited for the signs of the large, cephalopod-like monster. Suddenly, the warm sea breeze ceased and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted dolphins frantically swimming away from the ship. Soon, schools of fishes, numbering in the thousands, surrounded the area to the port side of the boat. Slowly, every so slowly, Herazale felt the ship move in a circular whirlpool-like motion...the kraken was surfacing.

Herazale glimpsed a slight movement under the water and suddenly, he felt a massive jolt. A bursting of water emitted from dreadful nostrils, the sea become a frenzy of waves, and he spied gray, slimy tentacles reaching toward the sky. Herazale knew that he needed to act fast. Seeing an island nearby, he jumped into the water. With his enormous strength, Herazale grasped the slippery, thrashing tentacle and slid downward noticing the thickening as he neared where it attached to the body. He quickly sliced the tentacle off. Amidst chaotic bubbles and tumultuous roaring, he knew the kraken was injured, but not dead. He swam toward the island he had spotted earlier, with the giant tentacle in his grip, aware that the very fast and powerful swimmer was in pursuit.

Herazale mounted the island’s rocky cliff just as the kraken hurled its body onto the land. Herazale was able to wrap the tentacle around the body of the kraken, just below the powerful beak. The beast knew that he was defeated. Amazed by strength of this mere mortal, his giant eyes met Herazale’s, his body filling, and the gaze begged for mercy.

Herazale being a lover of the sea, told the beast from this day forward none of his kind would reproduce in the sea. He cut off the massive tentacles and watched as each tentacle’s sucker morphed into a small Blenny fish. Next, Herazale split the giant’s body in two. One half became a Colossal Squid, who would roam the deep, dark waters of the Southern Hemisphere; the other half became the Giant Squid, relegated to the depths of the Northern Hemisphere, both species peaceful to mankind and tender to the sea.

Author’s Note:

The kraken is a mythological creature. It is on list of cryptids as an aquatic animal. Commonly believed to have been mistaken for giant squids, original stories tell of a crab-like animal. Other stories tell of the hafgufa (giant octopus) and lyngbakr (whale) which attacked ships. The tales are common in Scandinavian folklore and Norse saga focusing on the region in the North Atlantic near Greenland and Norway. A cephalopod-like monster, the kraken is told to be 13-15 meters in length, have large tentacles, a small beak, and enormous eyes. Since I enjoy origin stories and felt as if my character, Herazale, would not like to kill sea life, I put in the creation of the Blenny fish (one of my favorites to see scuba diving) and Colossal Squid and Giant Squid formation. The origin story is my own.

Bibliography

Kraken Mythology Information: Accessed here

Kraken & hafgufa Information Wikipedia

Deception Island information: Accessed here

List of cryptids: Accessed here