The term "selkie" is simply the Orcadian dialect word meaning "seal".
As such selkies are a very common sight across the islands of Orkney. Heads
bobbing above the surface of the waves, they are most often seen watching
inquisitively with uncannily human eyes. To the onshore observer it is
not hard to see how the legends surrounding the selkie-folk sprang into
life.
Orkney has many stories concerning a magical race of creatures known
locally as the "selkie-folk" - the seal people. Unlike the Finfolk,
the selkie-folk were generally regarded not as malicious creatures but
rather gentle shape shifters with the ability to transform from seals into
beautiful, lithe humans.
Throughout the gathered lore there is no general agreement as to how
often this magical transformation could take place - in some tales it was
once a year, usually on Midsummer's Eve - referred to as Johnsmas Eve -
whereas in others it was "every ninth night" or perhaps "every seventh
stream".
However often they were able to transform, the folklore tells us that
once in human form the selkie-folk would dance merrily on the moonlit seashore
or bask on outlying rocks or skerries.
A common element in all selkie-folk tales, and perhaps the most important,
was the fact that when the selkie assumed human form, they shed their seal
skins. Within these magical skins lay the power to shapeshift back into
seal form so these had to be guarded at all costs. If one of the selkie-folk
lost a skin, they were doomed to remain in human form until the magical
skin was found again.
Because of this, if disturbed during one of their midnight shore dances,
the selkie-folk would quickly snatch up their skins before rushing back
to the safety of the sea.
The male members among the selkie-folk were renowned for their many
encounters with human females - married and unmarried.
A selkie man in human form was a handsome creature with almost magical
seductive powers over mortal women. These selkie-men had no qualms in casting
off their seal-skins, stashing them carefully, and heading inland to seek
illicit intercourse with an "unsatisfied woman".
Should such a mortal woman wish to make contact with a selkie-man, there
was a specific rite that she had to follow. At the high tide, the woman
should make her way to the shore where she had to shed seven tears into
the sea.
The selkie-man would then come ashore and after removing his magical
sealskin, sought out unlawful love among the women of the island.
In the words of the Orkney folklorist Walter Traill Dennison, these
selkie males:
"..often made havoc among thoughtless girls, and sometimes
intruded into the sanctity of married life."
If a girl went missing while out on the ebb or at sea, it was inevitably
said that her selkie lover had taken her to his watery domain - assuming,
of course, she had not attracted the eye of a Finman.
But if the males of the selkie race were irresistable to the island
women, selkie females were no less alluring to the eyes of the earth-born
men.
The most common theme in selkie folklore is one in which a cunning young
Orcadian man acquires, either by trickery or theft, a selkie-girl's seal
skin. This prevented her from returning to her home in the sea and the
beautiful seal-maiden was usually forced to marry their "captors" and sire
children.
These tales generally end sadly, however, with the selkie-wife's children
finding and returning her sealskin so that she might return to the sea.
In some accounts her children go with her while others have them remaining
with their mortal father.