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ScoTTisH MERMAIDS. 155 
skins. Ultimately a bargain was struck. One big seal, named 
Gioga, consented to convey the man to the mainland provided he 
would undertake to have them returned in as short a time as 
possible. Gioga even allowed him to cut holes in her shoulders 
and flanks for his hands and feet, to prevent his slipping off her 
back. In this fashion the voyage to Papa Stour was safely 
accomplished ; and the Shetlander did not fail to fulfil his part 
of the bargain in securing the restoration of the captured skins. 
The truth of this tale is vouched for by the islanders by the fact 
that some time afterwards the body of a large seal which was 
washed ashore in that district was found to have holes cut in the 
skin corresponding to those spoken about by the fisherman in 
question. 
We meet with a variant of the “selkie-folk ’’ legend on the 
northern mainland. The story is told concerning a fisherman 
and seal-hunter who lived not far from John o’ Groat’s House. 
One day on returning home he was summoned by a stranger to 
accompany him to a person who was desirous of bargaining with 
him for sealskins. Mounting the horse that was standing at the 
door they rode till they came to a steep precipice. There they 
dismounted, and immediately the stranger seized the fisherman 
and leapt with him into the sea. How far they sank he could 
not tell, but ultimately they came to a door in the cliff. Enter- 
ing, they came into the midst of a large assembly of “ Roane ”’ 
or seals, who were speaking and acting like human folk, but 
seemed very sad; and to his astonishment the fisherman per- 
ceived that both he and his companion had the appearance of 
seals themselves. The production of a large knife by one of the 
seals threw the hunter into a great state of fear, and his panic 
was in no wise diminished when he recognised it as one belonging 
to himself, which he had lost that very morning after stabbing a 
seal, which had escaped. He was assured, however, that he was 
in no danger. His guide explained that the seal that had been 
stabbed was really his (the guide’s) old father, and he was at 
that very moment lying dangerously ill in an adjoining apart- 
ment. What the hunter had been brought for was in order that 
he might lend his aid towards bringing about the recovery of the 
invalid. When taken into the presence of the latter, he at once 
tecognised him as the seal that had escaped him in the morning. 
He was now asked to cicatrise the wound he himself had inflicted 
