The Selkies: The Skin Above the Bed

The Selkies

The hidden thing

Her father kept something hidden above the bed. Her mother searched for it whenever he went to sea.

Two kinds of silence

At the shore, her mother went quiet. The girl held her sleeve and watched the seals watching them.

What he took

Once, her father had found a woman beside an empty sealskin. He took the skin. Without it, she could not go home.

The life she made

Years passed. Her mother made a life with her children. She taught this daughter songs nobody else in the village knew.

A secret witnessed

One night, the girl woke as her father reached above the bed. Something silver slipped through his hands. He pushed it back.

The hiding place

Now his boat was beyond the headland. Her mother searched the bed again. The girl pointed upward.

Something remembered

Her mother pulled down the silver skin. She pressed it against her face. The girl had never seen her hold anything like that.

Another hiding place

The girl wanted to push it back above the bed. Supper would come. Her mother would sing. Everything could stay as it was.

Between them

Her mother knelt beside her, holding the skin. The girl caught her blue sleeve, as she always did beside the sea.

No easy promise

“Will you come back?” the girl asked. Her mother touched her cheek. “I don’t know.”

An open doorway

The girl let go of the sleeve and stepped aside. Her mother kissed her forehead. The doorway stood open.

The sea receives her

At the water, her mother drew the skin around herself. A grey seal slipped beneath the waves. The girl stayed on land.

The empty space

Her father came home and found the skin gone. He faced the girl in the doorway. Why had she let her mother leave?

The question left behind

The girl looked at his empty hands. “Why did you make her stay?” Outside, the tide was coming in.

The Selkies: The Skin Above the Bed
By A free retelling of the Orcadian selkie-wife tradition recorded by Walter Traill Dennison
The Selkies. The Skin Above the Bed
Her father kept something hidden above the bed. Her mother searched for it whenever he went to sea.
At the shore, her mother went quiet. The girl held her sleeve and watched the seals watching them.
Once, her father had found a woman beside an empty sealskin. He took the skin. Without it, she could not go home.
Years passed. Her mother made a life with her children. She taught this daughter songs nobody else in the village knew.
One night, the girl woke as her father reached above the bed. Something silver slipped through his hands. He pushed it back.
Now his boat was beyond the headland. Her mother searched the bed again. The girl pointed upward.
Her mother pulled down the silver skin. She pressed it against her face. The girl had never seen her hold anything like that.
The girl wanted to push it back above the bed. Supper would come. Her mother would sing. Everything could stay as it was.
Her mother knelt beside her, holding the skin. The girl caught her blue sleeve, as she always did beside the sea.
“Will you come back?” the girl asked. Her mother touched her cheek. “I don’t know.”
The girl let go of the sleeve and stepped aside. Her mother kissed her forehead. The doorway stood open.
At the water, her mother drew the skin around herself. A grey seal slipped beneath the waves. The girl stayed on land.
Her father came home and found the skin gone. He faced the girl in the doorway. Why had she let her mother leave?
The girl looked at his empty hands. “Why did you make her stay?” Outside, the tide was coming in.

The Selkies: The Skin Above the Bed

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