DESCRIPTION:
Alyth McCormack singing The Selkie from her debut album An Iomall (The Edge). The tune is by Wendy Wetherby. The song is also known as The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry (Child 113).

Selkies are are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish folklore. Selkies (or Seal People) are said to be able to become human by taking off their seal skins, and can return to seal form by putting it back on. Stories concerning Selkies are generally romantic tragedies. Sometimes the human will not know that their lover is a Selkie, and wakes to find them gone. Other times the human will hide the Selkie's skin, thus preventing them from returning to seal form. A Selkie can only make contact with one particular human for a short amount of time before they must return to the sea. They are not able to make contact with that human again for seven years, unless the human steal's their Selkie skin and hides or burns it.

Not many paintings of Selkies, so I had to make do with Mermaids and Sirens and the like.