salsedine:

Mythology Meme - 1/8 Lengendary creatures
Selkies.

“Selkies (also known as silkies or selchies) are mythological creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish,and Scottish folklore. The word derives from earlier Scots selich, (from Old English seolh meaning seal).Selkies are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land.”

imakemywings:

Celtic Mythology: Selkies

{Irish, Scottish and Faroese folklore}

Selkies live as seals in the water, but shed their skins to become human on land. They are often said to be very beautiful and enticing. Once a selkie has made contact with a human, they are forbidden from making contact with that human again for seven years, unless the human steals or burns their seal skin. If a man steals a female selkie’s skin she must become his wife. Female selkies are said to make excellent wives, but they will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean, which is their only true home. However, if she finds the skin again, no matter how much she loves her husband and any children that may have been produced, she will return immediately to the sea, which is her only true home. After such departures, she may be seen lurking around the shore in seal form, watching her family. Romantic stories involving selkies are generally tragedies.

ironandsaltwater:

SELKIE: For the sea folk that cast off their sealskin coats to live and love on the land. But when the salt air calls them back and they remember their fins, they leave their lovers to wander the shores and sing sad songs of their own.

01  Sea Lion Woman - Feist. 02 Black Sand - Jenny Lewis. 03 Wandering Kind - Laura Veirs. 04 Seal Jubilee - Bat For Lashes. 05 Saltwater Queen - The Battle of the Land and Sea. 06 Oh, How the Boat Drifts - Múm. 07 If I Had A Boat - James Vincent McMorrow. 08 Deep Sea - Oh Land. 09 Riverside - Agnes Obel. 10 Across the Sea - Wailing Jennys. 11 In The Shallows - Daughter. 12 Mermaid - Okkervil River. 

[LISTEN]

kaijuborn:

Mythological creatures around the world | Merfolk

Selkies appear in Scottish and Irish myth and are said to be seals who can cast off their skin and become human on land. If someone should find their seal skin they can hide it, forcing the selkie to remain human and often forcing them into marriage as well. If the selkie should ever find their skin again, they will immediately transform back into a seal and return to their beloved ocean.

mordicanting:

Fairy Tale Meme:

6 Creatures- [Selkie]

The fisherman could not stop staring. You see, he had fallen in love at first sight, and because he was a young man, and terribly headstrong, he thought he must keep her with him. He clutched the sealskin to his chest, pressing it to his pounding heart. 

“Dear lady,” he said gently, “be my wife, for I have fallen madly in love with you, and without your sealskin, you’ll have to live on land. I’ll make you happy, that I promise.”

“Please sir,” she cried, “my folk will be so worried. I must go home. Never could I be happy on land.”