Only when she finds her own form again can the female selkie be free. In this they are unusual as otherworld females tend to be more of the deceptive and sexually predatory kind rather than the gentle victims the selkie women would appear to be.
The males are much freer and can roam at will on both land and sea. They seem to be fairly well-meaning creatures who have a sense of family responsibility and an affection for their human wives and their offspring. Again, this is very unusual for the supernatural male.
Neither the males nor the females form lasting relationships, even with their offspring, always returning to the sea after a brief period on land.
Popular belief states that, once a selkie has returned to the sea, it will be seven years before he or she is seen again.
Like other half-human, half-animal supernatural creatures, selkies seem to struggle with their dual identities. The sea identity always predominates and, given the opportunity, they will always return to their animal forms. The only negative trope about selkies in their animal forms is that they are dangerous to pregnant women and an encounter with them may lead to the child having scaly skin, webbed hands and feet, or seal like flippers for limbs.
This fits in with the well-recognised tradition of using supernatural creatures to explain birth defects that can now be rationalised through medical knowledge. What kind of stories feature selkies? Stories involving these creatures are usually origin myths or romantic tragedies. A good example of the former is that of Clan MacColdrum of Uist, which tells of a union between the founder of the clan and a shapeshifting seal woman.
The MacRoons sons of the seal too are very proud of their phocine origins! There is no shame in a selkie ancestor. In accordance with their generally benevolent nature, selkies have the gift of foresight but do not practice magic or sorcery of any kind so they can see the future but cannot change it.
This motif is explored in the ballad which tells the tale of a young maiden who loves a selkie man. He leaves her shortly after she has a son by him. He later appears to her as a grey seal one night as she rocks her child and asks her to tend the child for a traditional further twelvemonth and a day in some versions, this is the equally formulaic seven years.
After the year is up, he returns with gold and silver for her and takes the boy away. In the Shetland, the sea-folk were believed to revert to human shape and breathed air in the atmosphere in the submarine homeland, but with their sea-dress seal-skin they had the ability to transform into seals to make transit from there to the reefs above the sea.
However, each skin was unique and irreplaceable. In the tale of "Gioga's Son", a group of seals resting in the Ve Skerries were ambushed and skinned by Papa Stour fishermen, but as these were actually seal-folk, the spilling of the blood caused a surge in seawater, and one fisherman was left abandoned. The seal-folk victims recovered in human-like form, but lamented the loss of their skin without which they could not return to their submarine home.
Ollavitinus was particularly distressed since he was now separated from his wife; however, his mother Gioga struck a bargain with the abandoned seaman, offering to carrying him back to Papa Stour on condition the skin would be returned.
In a different telling of the same plot line, the stranded man is called Herman Perk, while the rescuing selkie's name is unidentified.
Tales of the seal bride type has been assigned the number ML under Reidar Thoralf Christiansen's system of classification of migratory folktales. These stories of selkie-wives are also recognized to be of the swan maiden motif type. There are now hundreds of seal bride type tales that have been found from Ireland to Iceland.
Only one specimen was found in Norway by Christiansen. Seal shapeshifters similar to the selkie exist in the folklore of many cultures. A corresponding creature existed in Swedish legend, and the Chinook people of North America have a similar tale of a boy who changes into a seal. In the Faroe Islands there are two versions of the story of the 'seal wife'. A young farmer from the town of Mikladalur on Kalsoy island goes to the beach to watch the selkies dance.
He hides the skin of a beautiful selkie maid so she cannot go back to sea, and forces her to marry him. He keeps her skin in a chest, and keeps the key with him both day and night. One day when out fishing, he discovers that he has forgotten to bring his key. When he returns home, the selkie wife has escaped back to sea, leaving their children behind. Later, when the farmer is out on a hunt, he kills both her selkie husband and two selkie sons, and she promises to take revenge upon the men of Mikladalur.
Some shall be drowned, some shall fall from cliffs and slopes, and this shall continue, until so many men have been lost that they will be able to link arms around the whole island of Kalsoy. There are still occasional deaths occurring in this way on the island. Against his wife's wishes he set sail dangerously late in the year, and was trapped battling a terrible storm, unable to return home.
His wife shifted to her seal form and saved him, even though this meant she could never return to her human body and hence her happy home. Known and loved for its beautiful nature, Switzerland is one of the top places to visit for a vacation in the mountains.
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Origins of the Selkie Myths You might wonder where these strange stories of selkies and fairies came from and how they came to be. In Popular Culture Selkies have appeared in numerous works of pop culture, such as novels, songs and films, including A Stranger Came Ashore, a young adult novel by Scottish author Mollie Hunter. Please enter your comment! Please enter your name here. You have entered an incorrect email address! Popular Articles.
It is said in Ireland that seals are fond of music and can sing. A good singer can coax them ashore. Various songs are sung to attract seals. This song uses a tune to attract seals, similar to one said to be used by the seals. More recently Bill Gallaher, of Victoria, B. It tells a sad tale about a Scottish fisherman and his daughter, a silkie, who leaves him to join the seal folk. Reuters, June 30, Gray Atlantic seals have haunting human-like eyes, and their voices mimic human sounds of grief and loneliness.
It is not surprising then that this folklore has evolved around them. But there may be other reasons for these stories.
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