Release the Kraken

While I do not think that Disney World needs to reinstitute their decommissioned branch of rare and nearly extinct animals, the International Society of Cryptozoology, it is intriguing to stare with gawking mouths and glazed eyes at their okapis, komodo dragons, and yetis…oh wait, maybe that last one was an audio-animatronic after all.  I suppose Disney employees could take a few mile journey down the Orlando freeway to Sea World to see a Kraken, but unfortunately it would just be a contorted and crooked track of sea-green-blue steel with rollercoaster trains cruising over it (interestingly, the etymology of ‘kraken’ is Norwegian for ‘twisted’ – Sea World was way ahead of their time on this one!).  Unfortunately, they will not encounter an actual kraken, which they obviously interpret to be a giant octopus, or giant squid, according to their CGi in “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and in good faith along with the preeminent taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus.   Metaphorical use of an item does not preclude its actuality.  One may say, “You are as strong as an ox.”  While they do not literally mean that the person they are addressing could plough a field with nothing more than a yoke and tiller blade, they also do not mean that an ox is a fictional creature, nor that strength is a fictional concept.  Both are equally a reality, combined with poetic licensure to convey a point.  Now, at this point one may be thinking I am advocating for the existence of krakens (or Krakow?...or giant octopi?).  Not necessarily, but the reality is that giant squid do, indeed, exist!  What is more, Leviathan and Behemoth, though not particular genus or species in our modern scientific taxonomic classification, are highlighted metaphorically and literally to Job!  The Yeti at the end of the ‘Expedition Everest’ coaster at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is the Darth Vader of the animal world – more “machine than man”, or “more machine than animal” – but I assure you that the lions on the far side of the well obscured ditch and fence on their safari convoy ride, ‘Kilimanjaro Safaris’, will be more than happy to prove their lack of cables and wires while relieving you of your rib cage.  Likewise, Job, in the fortieth chapter of the book that bares his name, was not gazing at one of Disney’s animatronics, though he probably would have appreciated one of their safari vehicles.