A childhood belief about characters

When I was little, my mom told me the story about "Daniel and the Lion's Pit."
Daniel was thrown into a pit of lions because of the way he worshiped, but Jehovah God came and shut the mouth of the lions and he was saved. Well, I did not know what a "lion's pit" was, so I substituted the next best thing I knew -- Lion Spit. I thought the danger was that he would drown in all that spit. But when their mouths were shut, they would stop drooling and it would be ok. I think my mom actually slurred the words a little after she heard me retelling the story, just to keep the illusion alive.
The same sort of logic led me to believe the Israelites ate WHALES in the desert. They were complaining about the lack of meat and so a stiff breeze blew from the sea, and all these whales landed in the area where they were. I did wonder if anyone was crushed by the falling whales... As it turns out, they were Quails (small birds -- avg 18cm long). I sure learned a LOT after I learned how to read for myself!