Greatest sins of mankind (Final part)

It was never the same again. The Orcas, sensing and knowing that one of their own has been slain by a human, could never work with them again and left in droves. Not Old Tom. He believed in George, and perhaps they could identify human by faces rather than just broad classifications. Old Tom led a few of its friends/families and continued to stay around Eden, alerting the hunters to the prey as usual.

Around that period, however, large scale commercial whaling started as bigger ships were built and the potential preys became smaller and smaller in number. On one rare hunting trip, Old Tom and its mates led George, who by that time was a member of a medium sized steam whale hunting ship, to a large prey and they managed to kill it. Old Tom was just getting ready to take the bounty away, as usual, when the captain of the ship decided to take the whale carcass back to Eden immediately rather than waiting for Tom to bring it back later. George protested but did not insist on leaving the carcass with Tom, and the captain decided to snatch it away from Tom. Tom fought back, holding on to the rope that towed the carcass, but the ship was too strong and it rammed onto Tom a few times before it finally let go and cost it a tooth....

Hunts became rarer and rarer by the day, and there certainly was not any indication it would turn for the better. Tom's companions died one by one through starvation, and in the end Tom was the only survivor among all of its companions that stayed behind. George kept Tom alive when there was no food available by feeding it small fishes, but these big animals needed more than just that to survive. Tom finally decided to end its life on the beach of Eden, the place where it has built the most amazing relationship with George. It beached itself onto the sands and was found by George the following day. That day marked the end of Tom's life, and also the most amazing tale of human-beast relationship that ever existed...

George cut Tom apart afterwards and discovered an empty stomach, indicating that it might have starved to death, which was not surprising given the situation at that time. Tom's body was cleaned up and its skeleton was put up at the museum at Eden. One visiting scientist discovered one day that Tom has a fatal wound on its mouth that may have caused its death through infection, which was the wound from the tooth that was pulled out when it tried to fight for the whale's carcass, as part of the ritual of 'law of the tongue'...

It is sad to see the result of the faith that Tom had in George. I can't help but to wonder, would Tom have died if the captain was not so greedy and left it to have its fair share of the hunt first? Or more importantly, would Old Tom have died if its most trusted ally, George, to whom it has stuck closely to when almost all of its kind lost faith in human, have fought for his friend a bit more and not cause him to get that fatal wound? No one of course knows the answer, but the blind faith that old Tom showed was nothing sort of incredible, and humans were again culprit to the crimes of greed and disloyalty....

This whole story is a true event. If anyone doubts the authenticity of this story, just look at the record: the largest ever whale caught using a harpoon was found in Eden... More importantly, let's reflect on the story and never be caught with the same situation that has afflicted George and the captain, that is, the sin of greed and betrayal of faith...