The Selkie Bride
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The Selkie Bride
On cold, dark nights
by the firesides of crops around the coasts of Scotland
I've told tales of long ago.
Of strange creatures who lived in the waters of the sea
and whose forms can be seen sometimes
swimming in the flickering flames of the fire.
A tale is told of 3 brothers.
One night, as the sea was calm they went fishing together.
As they came around an outcrop of land
they saw some figures on the beach before them.
A group of girls.
Laughing and dancing together in the moonlight.
As they watched,
the youngest brother, Caudron, noticed one girl
unlike the ones he had ever seen.
Her black hair shone so in the moonlight,
he couldn't take his eyes from her.
She had smooth olive skin and
her dark shining eyes were as mysterious and beautiful
as the moon shining on the dark waters of the sea.
"Come! Follow me!", the oldest brother whispered
and they kept up to a pile of seal skins caps lying on the sand.
"Take one", he said "and this night you shall have a bride".
Caudron didn't understand, but as his brothers
each picked up a seal skin,
so he too did the same.
As the sun rose, the girls began to collect their caps
running towards the sea and diving into the water.
Soon, only 3 remained.
Searching around the beach for their seal skins.
"Here!"
Caudron turned to see his eldest brother standing with one of them in his hand.
"I have your cap and I claim you as my bride,
for I know that you are selkies,
seals in human form
and that you cannot return to the sea, as long as I have your seal skin."
The selkie came meekly to him and knelt at his feet.
"You are right", she said.
"You have my cap and I will be your bride as I must."
And so, Caudron's brothers claimed their brides.
Then Caudron motioned to the girl he'd been watching.
"Is this yours?", he asked.
She noded.
"Then, you will be my bride and...
and my love will be greater than...
than all the oceans of the world.
And he took her hand
and kissed her
and led her away from the sea.
The brothers decided to hide the seal skins,
for fear their brides might find them and return to the sea.
Caudron was hiding his, when he noticed his bride sitting alone on the rocks below
gazing at the water.
As he got closer, he heard her softly singing.
"What's that song?", he asked.
"Why is it so sad?"
"I'm singing to the sea", she replied.
"I know you love me
and would do nothing to hurt me
but the sea is my home and my heart can never leave it."
And she told him of her life in the sea.
Of the great blue whales that move
through the oceans like mountains and how
they leap into the air with joy and then with a great
crashing of waters sending the foam high into the sky.
And of the beautiful ice cathedrals of the north,
where the selkies play, darting
through the great tunnels and columns of moulded ice.
And as she spoke, Caudron could imagine her there
swimming free.
And in his heart, he could feel the joy and the wonder
of being one with the sea.
He felt a single drop of water on his hand
and looking up, saw that his bride was crying.
He held her in his arms and in her songs he heard
all the sorrows of the world.
And he felt as if his heart would break him
for he knew that she would never be his.
She would always belong with the sea.
His heart was heavy
as he returned the seal skin to her.
Then watched her walk slowly down to the shore
and dive with hardly a ripple back into the ocean.
Night after night, Caudron sat alone by the sea.
He almost wished, he and his brothers had never seen the selkies,
for all the sorrows it had brought them.
For his brothers too, had lost their brides.
One had found the seal skin as her husband lay sleeping
and in the morning she was gone.
When the other brother heard this, he grew afraid
for he loved his bride.
When she was in the house,
he tried to burn her seal skin
but she saw him and came running out to save it.
And was lost in the flames.
So it was, that Caudron sat there alone
staring into the sea,
missing his bride.
"Caudron!"
He looked up startled and there before him was his bride.
Dark and lovely in the moonlight.
"I've been watching you from the sea
and I've missed you."
"Although I must return there,
each ninth night I will join you here as your bride."
"And our love will be greater than all the oceans of the world."
And she took him by the hand
and together they slipped quietly
into the dark waters of the night.
Some said the man had become a selkie too
and joined his bride in sea.
Some that she had joined him on the land as his wife.
And others, spoke of seeing
strange dark children with smooth olive skin
and sleek black hair
and soft dark eyes,
that seemed to hold all the magic
and mysteries of the oceans.
Written & produced by Walter G. McCrorie
Storyteller: Tom Conti
Music composed: Billy Tennent
Music performed by Neal MacArthur & Jenny Devevo, engineered at Big Bang Studios by Chick Medley
With great thanks...