The Irish call them the Roane, pronounced "Ron". The Scots call them the Selkies. They are the Seal People, and they are among the gentlest residents of Faerie.
It is said that: In the sea they long for the land; on the land they long for the sea... So, they are in constant indecision, never satisfied with one or the other. This is actually a type of curse...
One night a Scottish fisherman, Neil Mac Coddrum, came upon an enchanting sight, a group of lovely young women, dancing and twirling in the moonlight. He meant to watch them unnoticed, but he stepped on a branch of driftwood; it made a loud snap!
Instantly, the women rushed to a pile near them and grabbed up what looked like fur coats. The coats were their seal skins. Swiftly, they rushed down to the waters edge, donned their skins and dived into the waves.
But, one of the women was not as quick as her sisters. Neil snatched her sealskin from her. Pitifully, she pleaded for her skin so she could join her sisters in the sea, but the fisherman wouldn't return it.
He knew from old stories that he had caught a Selkie woman and that if he hid her skin from her he could force her to become a good, if wistful and sad wife. So, the Selkie maiden was forced to stay with him.
In time, she bore Neil a son and daughter. They looked like normal humans except they had webs between their fingers and toes.
The Selkie wife lived for many years with Neil Mac Coddrum, until one day her children came to her with a strange discovery. "Look, Mother, what we have found behind a locked door! It looks a bit like a coat, but it is so soft and warm-feeling!"
The Selkie woman was overjoyed! After so many years, her skin returned to her! Quickly, she told her children the story of the Selkie race, but she said, "Tonight I must leave you."
That night the she made dinner, as usual, but after her husband had gone to sleep she took her children and her sealskin to the edge of the Sea. Tearfully, she hugged them. "I will go now. As you know, I must return to my natural life as a Selkie, but I will come to you again. You will hear me singing from the sea for you are half-Selkie. Then, you will come to me and together we will swim the foaming waves."
With that said, the Selkie woman donned her sealskin and dived into the water. In the morning Neil searched for his wife and questioned his children. Gravely, they told him, "Our mother has returned to her home in the sea."
There was nothing he could do about it. He missed his wife badly, but never saw her again. His children lived with him until they were married for they were as gentle and agreeable as their mother, still they never forgave their cruel father. Being half Selkie, they knew how the many years of the loss of the Sea had been to their mother.
For the rest of their lives they heard her haunting and lovely Selkie song calling them to swim the waves, especially on moonlit nights. Their father, of course, could not hear the beautiful sea-song, but he knew when he could not find his son and daughter where they were. His children would come home. They looked so much like their mother. Their large and soft dark brown eyes would burn his heart like a brand.
For the rest of their lives they heard her haunting and lovely Selkie song calling them to swim the waves, especially on moonlit nights. Their father, of course, could not hear the beautiful sea-song, but he knew when he could not find his son and daughter where they were. His children would come home. They looked so much like their mother. Their large and soft dark brown eyes would burn his heart like a brand.
In the coastal areas of Scotland, for generations, there would sometimes be children born with webs between their fingers and toes.
(The stories of the Selkies are some of my favorites. If you liked this story you might also like the movie "The Secret Of Roane Innish", and also the short story in the 1995 paperback book "Irish Magic" called "Galway Bay" by Morgan Lewellyn.)
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