whale of a tale

i have always been in love with sea creatures. starfish, stingrays, sea urchins.
but these lil' guys were inspired by a story that one of my kindergarteners told me. it involved her great grandfather being swallowed by a whale. audrey said he was a sailor who got thrown off of his boat, swallowed by a whale and lived inside of the whale for months. think gepettos workshop in pinocchio. and anyway when he was finally rescued all of his hair had turned white. i know this is the kind of story for which phrase "whale of a tale" was made and since she was only five at the time i figured she was really working on her story telling skills. at the end of the year i mentioned the story to her mother who then brought in an article from a 1940's newspaper about this very whaling disaster/triumph.
woa!