“Whatever happened to King Maushop, Uncle Joseph?” I ask, taking a pull of my Budweiser.
“He lived for a thousand years, and when he heard the Europeans were coming, he turned himself into a white whale and passed over the horizon.”
“Like in Moby d**k,” adds Jimmy, draining his beer.
“No,” replies Uncle Joseph. “Moby d**k is a made-up story told by a white man. But there was a white whale. Two of our people saw it. The ship they sailed was named the Essex, out of Nantucket, and she was captained by a man named Pollard, also out of Nantucket. Our people knew the whale to be King Maushop, and they told the captain he should leave it alone, but Pollard had blood in his teeth, and he threw his harpoon, only to have the whale turn on him and break his boat into many pieces. Only our people s
