@Iwizesol
Well, considering the implication that it's not the first time the whale spoke to a humanoid, I guess someone from the distant past told them the story.
I hope that preview is a joke, or a dream fantasy.
I like the bittersweet nature of this story, it juggles comedy moments with the overlying theme that everything dies, and when the old man dies, so will Ponko.
I suppose the granddaughter could inherit/buy Ponko, and she could look after her children etc. and then the story could turn out like the Robin Williams Film Bicentennial Man