From "The Selkie Wife's Daughter" by Jeannine Hall Gailey:

    I always wondered why she sang so strangely

    at the spinning wheel, why her eyes held all

    the mourning of the darkest sea. And why

    she held me away,

    as if afraid of my skin, why my feet and

    hands were webbed with translucent sea–skin.

    I used to bring her armfuls of yellow

    water iris to almost

    see her smile. I wondered why father

    never let me swim out against the waves,

    never let her walk the shores alone....

To read the full poem, go here.

Words: The poem extract above, inspired selkie legends is from  Becoming the Villainess by Jeannine Hall Gailey (Steel Toe Books, 2006), which I highly recommend. All rights reserved by the author. Pictures: The photographs above are by Dan Kitwood, Steve Race, Elmar Weiss, and Friends of Horsey Seals (Norfolk). All rights reserved by the photographers.