### q7 exaggeration and distortion fuel myth more than lies > Where did the accounts of monsters come from in the first place? Were they simply fairy tales invented to scare curious minds and small children? Henry Lee, who wrote extensively on sea creatures and monsters, emphasized that many classical monsters are not simply pure myth. In his publication [*Sea Fables Explained*](http://biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/10456#/summary) (1883), he wrote, “… the descriptions by ancient writers of so-called ‘fabulous creatures’ are rather distorted portraits than invented falsehoods, and there is hardly any of the monsters of old which has not its prototype in Nature at the present day.” - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fn480vws0xtdgtzxfcnc7e2m) - [[Five Real Sea Monsters Brought to Life by Early Naturalists by Grace Costantino#q7 exaggeration and distortion fuel myth more than lies|View in Vault]]