The Moby-Dick Bible
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Symbolism › Fountain

Fountain

2 passages in the novel carry this mark, in the order they appear.

Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned.

Chapter 1, Loomings · verse 12

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Nor is it at all prudent for the hunter to be over curious touching the precise nature of the whale spout. It will not do for him to be peering into it, and putting his face in it. You cannot go with your pitcher to this fountain and fill it, and bring it away.

Chapter 85, The Fountain · verse 18

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