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ScotTtTisH MERMAIDS. 153 
offspring. There is, by the way, a beautiful legend that when 
a young and fair maiden is lost at sea she is not drowned, but 
taken captive by the “ selkie-folk,’’ and becomes the bride of one 
of them. One curious characteristic about these creatures is 
that they are never known to appear alone (as is almost invari- 
ably the case with the mermaid), but always in groups, basking 
in the sunshine or gambolling about on some sea-surrounded 
skerry, with their sealskins lying beside them on the rock. The 
moment the alarm is given of the approach of anyone, they make 
a dash for their furry garments, and donning them, are immedi- 
ately seals again, and plunge into the sea and make off. 
A typical story of an encounter with the “ selkie-folk ’’ and 
what came of it is that of the guidman of Wastness, in Shetland. 
This young fellow, who had successfully withstood the blandish- 
ments of the maidens of the country-side, and had escaped the 
toils of their mammas, one day came upon a group of “ selkie- 
folk ’’ sporting on a rock by the shore. Creeping forward, he 
secured the sealskin nearest him, before its proper owner could 
reach it, and set off home with it over his shoulder. Before he 
had gone far he heard a pitiful wailing behind him, and looking 
round, saw a beautiful girl following him, weeping dolefully. 
This, as he rightly conjectured, was the one of the “ selkie-folk ’’ 
whose sealskin he had seized, and who was unable to escape 
owing to the want of it. Timorously she approached, and tear- 
fully she begged the restoration of property so necessary to her. 
The young crofter, struck by her beauty and winsomeness, 
refused to meet her wish unless she consented to become his 
wife. After some persuasion, he succeeded in wringing from the 
sea-maiden a reluctant consent, and she accompanied him home. 
A thrifty, frugal, and kindly goodwife, too, did she turn out, 
and the birth to them of seven children—four boys and three 
girls—seemed to leave nothing lacking for her happiness. But 
often the mother would turn away from her children and gaze 
with a longing, far-away look in her eyes, at the sea. The seal- 
skin she had never seen since the day she came as an ocean 
_ bride. One day when her husband and eldest sons were away 
at the fishing, and she was left in the house with only the 
youngest child, who had been ill, an overpowering desire came 
over her. High and low she hunted for the missing skin, but 
