The Selkie Wife of Orkney

Eynhallow Island, Orkney, Scotland

A fisherman stole the skin of a seal-woman bathing on the beach, forcing her to remain on land as his wife. She bore him children and loved them — but the sea called louder.

The selkie legends of Orkney are among the most achingly melancholy in British folklore, and the island of Eynhallow — whose name may derive from the Norse for 'holy island' — is associated with several of the most complete versions. A selkie is a creature that lives as a seal in the sea and can shed its skin to take human form on land. They are invariably described as beautiful: dark-haired, dark-eyed, with a sadness about them even in their most joyful moments, as though they are always partly elsewhere. The central story is consistent: a fisherman finds seal-women dancing on the shore, their skins set aside. He steals a skin. Without it, the selkie cannot return to the sea. She is bound to him. She becomes his wife, bears his children, loves them genuinely. But she never forgets. For years — sometimes decades — she searches the house for her hidden skin. When she finds it, she tells her children she loves them, reminds them which plant to use for a sea-itch, which seal in the water is their kin. Then she walks into the sea and is gone. The men in these stories are never villains. They are lonely, and they love their wives genuinely. The tragedy is structural: the selkie does not leave because she is unhappy with her human life. She leaves because she cannot not leave. The sea is not a choice.