Finders Keepers - Losers Weepers

Greetings, Gentle Reader!

This month W3 is all about Summer Vacation. Ah, summer, sun, and surf. There's nothing better than sitting on a blanket with a book, staring out at the waves, and hoping to see a dolphin or two. Grab a patch of sand and join me, won't you?

Wait! Look over there. Something's  bobbing on the waves, just beyond the farthest breaker. Do you see it? Is it just another swell? Or my imagination?

There! A little to the right. A dark shape that doesn't look like water, or a bird, or a dolphin even. Drats! Gone again! Was that a seal?

Selkies

Do not cry into the sea, lassie

Let not your tears meet the waves.

For should the water of your eyes

Meet the waters of the sea

A selkie man will be called to thee.

Selkies are seal shapeshifters, most commonly said to live off the coast of the Orkney Islands and Shetland in Scotland and Co. Donegal in Ireland. The word, "selkie," is old Scots meaning seal, the Irish name is "roan." Similar creatures appear in other coastal mythologies, but let's stay with this, shall we?

When Selkies shed their skins, they transform into beautiful men and women. Beautiful and seductive. And because they always return to the sea, any human who falls under their spell is left bereft. However, should someone find the Selkie's skin and hide it, the Selkie must remain on land with that person until the skin is returned, or they find it.

Stories tell of Selkie women whose skins are taken and hidden by fishermen. The captured Selkie women take the role of wives who live with their fishermen husbands quite docilely, bearing children and minding their homes. However, their hearts truly belong to their sea home and they will never be happy trapped on land. Inevitably in these stories, when the skin is returned or found (which it always is), the Selkie leaves never to be seen again.

The Selkie males were said to be quite handsome and seductive. They are also said to raise storms and overturn boats in retaliation for murdered seals. For some reason, there are fewer stories of captured males. Mostly, the males are blamed for unfaithful wives. The males often came from the sea in search of unsatisfied women and any human woman wishing to call one to her can do so by performing a simple ritual.

At high tide, she should make her way to the shore, where she had to shed seven tears into the sea. – Orkneyjar, The Heritage of the Orkney Islands

The sad and curious thought that someone would be so obsessed with their Selkie lover that they would resort to trapping them to keep them was the inspiration for "By Tears Bound," a short story I wrote and was published by Membra Disjecta in 2008. The short piece of verse above was the first stanza of a "song" I created for the story and I incorporated the "seven tears ritual" as a key part in the plot.

There is also a twist on the legends where some Selkies will lure humans into the sea, never to return.

So, my best advice, never accept a seal-skin coat without asking where it came from. Then again, if the selkie is as attractive as they claim, then you might want to keep it, for a little while. I just advise you not to become too attached to either of them. The Selkies always seem to regain their skin somehow.

Do not cry into the sea, lassie

Let not your tears meet the waves.

For should the water of your eyes

Meet the waters of the sea

A selkie man will steal your heart from thee.

Finders keepers, loser weepers. Until next month, Denise Golinowski

My sweet fantasy romance, The Festival of the Flowers: The Courtesan and The Scholar is available as an ebook from the Wild Rose Press. You can check it out here.