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Bibliography for Selkies Wikipedia Page

1. Harris, Jason Marc. "Perilous shores: the unfathomable supernaturalism of water in 19th-century Scottish folklore." Mythlore, vol. 28, no. 1-2, 2009, p. 5+. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/apps/doc/A211707031/LitRC?u=viva_vcu&sid=LitRC&xid=2d6aa541. Accessed 29 Oct. 2018.

2. Couteur, Peter Le. "Slipping Off the Sealskin: Gender, Species, and Fictive Kinship in Selkie Folktales." Gender Forum.55 (2015): 1. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2018.

3. "Baily's Magazine Of Sports And Pastimes." Google Books. N. p., 2018. Web. 29 Oct. 2018.

4. MacRitchie, David. “THE FINN-MEN OF BRITAIN.” The Archaeological Review, vol. 4, no. 1, 1889, pp. 1–26. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44245335.

5. Dennison, W. Traill. “Orkney Folk-Lore.” The Scottish Antiquary, or, Northern Notes and Queries, vol. 7, no. 28, 1893, pp. 171–177. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25516580.

"In Orkney, selkie was the popular name for seal. Seals were popularly
divided into two classes; namely, first, the common seal, here called tang
fish, which had no power to assume the human form. These, like other
inhabitants of the sea, were called fish. To the other class belonged all
seals larger in size than the Phoca vitulina; such as the great seal, rough
seal, Greenland seal, crested seal, and gray seal,?all of which have been
seen in Orkney waters. And it was this class of larger seals that were
called ' selkie folk/ because they had the power of assuming the human
form" (5)

Scottish Legend

-- Specify the seal type that is "credited with the ability to shapeshift into humans" as the "great seal, Greenland seal(also known as the Harp Seal), crested seal(also known as the hooded seal), and gray seal" Because of these Seal's larger size, they were thought to be humans donning seal skin. The smaller, more common seals found on the islands did not possess the same magical qualities.

Faroese legends

REWRITE

In the Faroe Islands there are two versions of the story of the 'seal wife'. A young farmer from the town of Mikladalur on Kalsoy island goes to the beach to watch the selkies dance. He hides the skin of a beautiful selkie maid so she cannot go back to sea, and forces her to marry him. He keeps her skin in a chest, and keeps the key with him both day and night. One day when out fishing, he discovers that he has forgotten to bring his key. When he returns home, the selkie wife has escaped back to sea, leaving their children behind. Later, when the farmer is out on a hunt, he kills both her selkie husband and two selkie sons, and she promises to take revenge upon the men of Mikladalur. Some shall be drowned, some shall fall from cliffs and slopes, and this shall continue, until so many men have been lost that they will be able to link arms around the whole island of Kalsoy. There are still occasional deaths occurring in this way on the island.

REWRITE WITH SOURCES

A famous selkie story from the Faroe Islands is The legend of Kópakonan, Kópakonan literally meaning "seal woman." The story tells of a young farmer from the village of Mikladalur who, after learning about the local legend that seals could come ashore and shed their skins once a year on the Thirteenth Night, goes to see for himself. While laying in wait, the man watches as many seals swim to shore, shedding their skin to reveal their human forms. The farmer takes the skin of a young selkie woman, who, unable to return to the water without her skin, is forced to follow the young man back to his farm and become his wife. The two stay together for many years, even producing several children. The man locks the selkie woman's skin in a chest, keeping the key to the lock on his person at all times, so his wife may never gain access. However, one day the man forgets his key at home, and comes back to his farm to find that his selkie wife has taken her skin and returned to the ocean. Later, when the farmer is out on a hunt, the man kills the selkie woman's selkie husband and two selkie sons. Enraged, the selkie woman promises vengeance for her lost kin. She exclaims that "some shall be drowned, some shall fall from cliffs and slopes, and this shall continue, until so many men have been lost that they will be able to link arms around the whole island of Kalsoy." Deaths that occur on the island are thought to be due to the Selkie woman's curse.

Icelandic Folktales

6. https://books.google.com/books?id=bJ_7jDsJPQUC&pg=PR53#v=onepage&q=marmennlar&f=false

Jón lærði Guðmundsson, tale about "sea elves" follows the typical beats of a selkie story. The story goes as follows~ While on his way to church on Christams-day, a man comes across the dancing and celebrating of elves within a cave by the ocean. The cave is lined with the seal skins of the dancing elves. As soon as the elves take notice of the man, they rush to don their skins and dive back into the ocean. However, the man is able to steal the smallest of the skins, sliding it underneath his clothes. The owner of the skin tries to retireve her skin from the man but he quickly takes hold of the young elf and takes her to his home to be his wife. The man and the elf are together for two years, producing two children, a boy and a girl, but the elf harbors no love for the man. During this time, the former elf woman's elf husband swims along the shore by the couple's home. One day, the elf woman finds her skin, and runs away, never to be seen again.

The book "The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland" by Ernest W. Marwick he cites a tale of a woman who gives birth to a son with a seal's face after falling in love with a Selkie man. A dream later reveals the location of silver for the woman to find after giving birth to her son.

A group of Selkie descendants, also mentioned by Marwick, possessed a skin that was greenish, white in color and cracked in certain places upon the body. These cracks exuded a fishy odor.

Parallels

ADD source for Chinook myth seals, The. "The Boy Who Lived With The Seals : Rafe Martin : Free Download, Borrow, And Streaming : Internet Archive." Internet Archive. N. p., 2018. Web. 7 Dec. 2018.

Theories of Origins

ADD

Children born with "scaly" skin were also thought to be the descendants of Selkies. This could have been casued byichthyosis, a genetic skin disorder that casues patches of skin to harden and appear "scaly." This condition can be severe, appearing all over the body, but is more likely to only cause slight disfigurement. The most common type known as ichthyosis vulgaris.

Selkie children born with a "seal's head" could have been due to the birth defect anencephaly.

Scottish Legend

ADD SOURCE Orkney, A. "A Description Of The Isles Of Orkney : Wallace, James, D. 1688 : Free Download, Borrow, And Streaming : Internet Archive." Internet Archive. N. p., 2018. Web. 7 Dec. 2018.

Superstitions

It was only during hard times that the people of the Scottish Isles would kill seals to make use of their skin and blubber. It was thought that the killing of a seal would result in misfortune for the perpetuator.

Ernest Marwick recounts the tale of crofters who brought their sheep to graze upon the a small group of holms within the Orkney Islands. During the summer, a man placed seven sheep on the largest holm. While on his way home from grazing sheep, the man killed a seal. That night, all of the man's sheep disappered, however, the other crofters, who had not killed a seal, their sheep did not disappear.

In Popular Culture

• In The Ancient Magus' Bride, both the manga and the anime, the mage Lindel has a selkie familiar named Merituuli.
• In Anne Bishop's Tir Alainne trilogy, selkie's are part of the Fae race within the series.
• On episode 7 of season 2 of Lost Girl, the main character must help a group of selkies held captive by a strip club owner hiding their skins