The Selkie Bride.

The Selkie Bride.

Once upon a time long. Long ago.

 A fisherman spent all day trying to catch a few fish but those he caught were only small and wouldn’t feed the cat never mind his empty belly.  As the sky began to darken he rowed his little currach back to shore and decided to take his meagre catch back to his lonely cottage.  As he walked towards the cottage he heard the sound of singing, it was more beautiful than anything he had ever heard before and he followed the sound.

 Hidden behind a ridge of rocks he saw what very few mortals have ever seen, there near the water a group of Selkie people were laughing, playing and singing. The fisherman couldn’t believe his eyes; the Selkie had cast of their skins and had taken on human form so they could play upon the shore.  Suddenly, one of the Selkie saw him and gave a warning cry, they all ran to the sea and quickly dived in. Slipping beneath the crashing waves they disappeared.

 “Holy mother of god, I must be coming down with something for now I’m seeing things” said the fisherman,

 He turned back towards the cottage but once again stopped for something was nagging the back of his mind. He turned back to the shore and there he spotted something black and shiny lying on a large rock.  He walked over for a closer look, now he saw it for what it was a seal skin.

 "No one will ever believe I've seen the Selkies unless I show them this," he said, and so he leaned over and picked up the skin and slung it over his shoulder.

 As he walked back to his cottage he began to whistle, for he realised that what he had over his shoulder would bring him a small fortune.  Suddenly he heard something coming up behind him and fearing a thief was about to rob him of his prize he spun around ready to fight. It was no thief; it was the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. She was crying so hard that he felt his heart melt.

 "Beautiful lady," he said, "why do you weep?"

 She looked into his eyes.

 "Kind sir," she said, choking back tears, "you have my sealskin. Kindly give it back, for I belong to the Selkies, and I cannot live under the sea without my skin."

 He stared at her and immediately knew he had fallen in love with her. He also knew that his chances of meeting another woman as beautiful as this one were highly unlikely. In fact his chances of meeting any woman were as unlikely as him winning the lotto.

 He thought to himself, “I haven’t a notion of giving it back, and I haven’t a notion of letting her go either, I’m keeping hold of this one”.

 Clutching the sealskin to his chest he said to her, "Be my wife, for I have fallen madly in love with you, and without your sealskin, you'll have to live on land. I promise I'll make you happy."

 "Please sir," she cried, "my folk will be so worried. I must go home. Never could I be happy on land."

 He smiled as sweetly as he could, bowed his head and bent down on one knee. "Now me dear, my cottage is a very cosy place. I'll keep you warm by the fire, and I'll give you all the fresh fish you could ever wish to eat. I promise you will live a happy life on land as my bride." He could lie better than an expensive rug.

 The young woman felt helpless without her skin. "All right, I’ll go to your home with you until you will return my skin, “she said,

 For many weeks the fisherman kept the sealskin with him for he feared his bride-to-be would steal it and slip away. However, after a while, she began to settle in to life on land, and when the fisherman saw she was happy, he stuffed the skin inside a crevice in the chimney.

 "She’ll never find it up there," he said to himself.

 Another month went by, and they married, and time passed very nicely indeed. They led a happy life; the fisherman was kind and generous. He truly loved his wife, and he always worked hard to make her happy. After a while the Selkie woman grew to love her fisherman, and sometimes she would sing to him. Those nights he was the happiest man in the world. As the years passed, the couple had seven children, and the Selkie woman loved those boys and girls with all her heart. Most of the time the family was very happy, though every once in a while the children would find their mother on the beach, gazing wistfully out to sea. They would circle her and ask,

 "Mother, why do you look so sad?”

 She would shake her head and kiss their foreheads. "Oh Never mind me, I’m only day dreaming" she told them.

 One day the fisherman and the three eldest children went out in their boat to catch fish. The next three walked to the village to buy some bread and milk and the mother and her youngest son stayed home alone. The mother looked out the window and watched the waves crashing onshore. Suddenly, far off in the distance she noticed, a band of seals playing and barking amongst the rocks. She sighed deeply, and her eyes filled with tears.

 Her youngest son ran to her side. "Mother, what's wrong?" he asked.  "Whenever you look out to sea, you grow so sad."

Without thinking she turned and said, "I'm sad because I was born in the sea. It's the home to which I never can return because your father hid my sealskin."

 Now the boy, like all children in Ireland, had heard tales of the Selkie folk, so right away he knew what his mother must be, and he ran to the fireplace, reached up and pulled the sealskin from its hiding place. He held it out to his mother.

 "How did you find it?" she asked, astonished at the sight of her skin.

 "One day I was here alone with father," said the boy, "and he took this from its hiding place and stared at it. I knew it was special, and now I understand what it is."

 The woman embraced the sealskin, and then she reached for her child and embraced him. "My darling," she whispered, "I will always love you," and then, clasping sealskin to her heart, she ran outside and down to the sea.  She slipped into her skin and dived into the bracing water.

 Soon after that moment, as they were heading home the fisherman and his children rowed past a group of seals. As they passed, the fisherman noticed a sleek young seal gazing at the boat, a strange expression on her face. As they slowly disappeared out of sight, he heard that seal cry, a plaintive sound, and then she disappeared underwater.

 When the fisherman arrived home, he learned what had happened, and he felt his heart breaking in two. But he understood his son was a loving boy. He was braver and more generous than the fisherman had ever been. Forever afterwards the fisherman and the children missed the Selkie Woman, but knowing she was happy in the world where she belonged gave them a measure of joy. Many an evening the fisherman could be seen standing on the seashore looking out to sea as if waiting for his lost love to come home. May be he is still there.