Petrifaction in mythology and fiction

Petrifaction, or petrification, defined as turning people to stone, is a common theme in folklore and mythology, as well as in some works of modern literature. Amos Brown noted that "Fossils are to be found all over the world, a clear evidence to human beings from earliest times that living beings can indeed turn into stone (...) Previous to the modern scientific accounts of how fossils are formed, the idea of magicians or gods turning living creatures into stone seemed completely plausible in terms of these cultures". Petrification is associated with the legends of Medusa and the Svartálfar among others. In fairy tales, characters who fail in a quest may be turned to stone until they are rescued by the successful hero, as in the tales such as The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body, The Water of Life and The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird, as well as many troll tales. In Cornish folklore, petrifaction stories are used to explain the origin of prehistoric megalithic monuments such as stone circles and monoliths, including The Merry Maidens stone circle, The Nine Maidens of Boskednan, the Tregeseal Dancing Stones, and The Hurlers. The supposedly petrified Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history. Medusa was a Gorgon, a monster with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those who gazed upon her face would turn to stone. Perseus killed Medusa and cut off her head, and afterwards used the severed head as a weapon, using it to turn various enemies to stone. In Homer's Odyssey, it is recounted that the god Poseidon turned a ship of the Phaeacians into stone, in punishment for their having helped his foe Odysseus: "With one blow from the flat of his hand, he turned her [the ship] into stone and rooted her to the sea bottom". In Classical times, the small island of Pontikonisi, off Corcyra (Corfu) was identified as this petrified ship. According to some authors, Heracles, when fighting the Nemean lion was helped in this labour by an Earth-born serpent, which followed him to Thebes and settled down in Aulis.