Now I will tell about that kin of fish, the great whale.
Called Fastitocalon, the whale is often found while floating in the ocean. He looks like rock and the area along the water’s edge is surrounded by dunes, so that travelers on the ocean think they are looking at an island. They tie their ships to the island and go onto the shore. There they make a camp. They start a fire and are happy when the whale suddenly dives down into the ocean, seeking the bottom. The men and drown with the ships.
This is the same way that devils behave, tricking people who become connected to them. When the evil enemy sees that he has caught humans in his ropes, he murders them. Covered by a helm of secrecy, he drags them to hell.
The whale has another trick: when he is hungry, he opens his mouth and a sweet smell comes out. The fish are tricked by the smell and they enter into his mouth. Suddenly the whale’s jaws close.
Likewise, any man who lets himself be tricked by a sweet smell and led to sin will go into hell, opened by the devil — if he has followed the pleasures of the body and not those of the spirit. When the devil has brought them to hell, he clashes together the jaws, the gates of hell. No one can get out from them, just as no fish can escape from the mouth of the whale.
Therefore we should always strive with words and deeds to fight against the devil. Let us look to God for salvation in this loaned time, so that we may enjoy heaven eternally.
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