The Strange Careen of Moby Dick the book

[Michael Eisenstadt]

It is a remarkable fact that the legend of Moby-Dick
was originally about a giant white woodpecker. 

The Indians near the village where Melville lived told
Melville a lengend about a giant white woodpecker.

This caught his attention. 

But is that the entire story?

It is indeed true that one theory maintains that a
French translation of the Indian legend was
misprinted, changing "woodpecker" into "fish", and the
incorrect version taught back to the Indian tribes by
missionaries. 

According to this theory, then, when Melville heard
the Indian legend the story was already changed from
"woodpecker" to "fish" by the Native Americans.

Thus Melville's unlikely novel, a story awkwardly
placed in the sea. 

However, other critics note that in mythology the Sea,
as pointed out by de Santillana, represents the
portion of the Zodiac below the celestial equator. 

According to these critics, Melville understood this
and placed his story of a "great white woodpecker" in
what was only a metaphorical ocean. 

His editors, less educated, took the references to the
"sea" literally.

They wrote Melville an angry note saying "you can't
have great white woodpeckers swimming in the ocean".

They changed the references to a "great white
woodpecker" to a "whale" and ordered him to write
several volumes on whaling. He did so reluctantly.