One piece of literature or folklore that
I found a dolphin in, is a French fairytale type story conveniently named, The Dolphin by Madame d’Aulnoy. This is
the story of a man, Alidor, who was not loved by his family because he was
ugly, so he left his family on a quest for somebody to love him. He found a
kingdom with a princess deep in the woods and fell in love with her, but because
of his ugliness, she just laughed at the thought of marrying him. Because fish
were the main source of protein back then, Alidor was constantly out fishing
trying to bring in a large load of fish to show his worth. However, he never
caught any fish. One day he caught a magic dolphin, and the dolphin promised to
help Alidor out if he would release him back. The dolphin kept his promise and
brought Alidor a very large load of fish. Next, the dolphin tried to help
Alidor with ways that he could win the princess over. They both found that
Alidor didn’t have a whole lot of game and the dolphin decided to turn Alidor
into a talking canary that the princess could keep as a pet. The princess loved
her canary very much and was very surprised to find that her canary was Alidor
when he changed back. The king was not happy and sent them all away- the
dolphin, Alidor and the princess. The story wraps up with the dolphin granting
Alidor and the princess their own island, the dolphin makes Alidor handsome,
they have a baby, the king forgives them and they all live happily ever after.
Pretty
extreme story and pretty extreme circumstances, huh?
The dolphin plays a pretty large role
overall. He helps Alidor look worthy with the fish, he grants Alidor a chance
to show the princess his personality through the talking canary, and then once
the princess loves him, the dolphin then makes Alidor handsome and gives them a
home. I feel the dolphin may have been chosen for a few reasons. Alidor was
always fishing and therefore they needed a creature of the sea since that is
where he spent a lot of his time. Dolphins are seen as one of the most
beautiful, magical creatures in the sea, and Alidor was considered the ugliest
and most worthless. Another reason is that dolphins are very intelligent and
maybe other sea creatures wouldn’t be able to think thoroughly on the same
level that the dolphin did throughout the story. Those are just a few of my
ideas as to why a dolphin may have been chosen for this piece of literature!
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