Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about SELKIE!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: in Scottish mythology, selkies meaning “seal folk” are mythological beings capable of therianthropy . they are found in folktales and mythology originating from the Northern Isles of Scotland “selkie” is correct term to be applied to shapeshifters, to be distinguished from the merfolk . there seems to be some conflation between the selkie and finfolk mermen and mermaids prefer to assume the shape of larger seals, referred to as “Haaf-fish” the only term which specifically refers to a selkie is maighdean the wife will spend her time in captivity longing for the sea, her true home, and will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean . she may bear several children by her human husband, but once she discover “ursilla” rumored to have children sired by a male selkie . children had to have webbing between fingers and toes clipped away intermittently . some descendants actually did have the seal-husband promised to return in seven years . there is the notion that they are either humans who had committed sinful wrongdoing . “goodman of Wastness” falls in love with a damsel among selkie-folk . she searches the house in his absence, and finds her seal-skin thanks to her youngest daughter the shape-shifting nature of selkie’s within Shetland tradition is detailed in the Scottish ballad The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry . in the tale of “Gioga’s hundreds of tales of selkie-wives have been found from Ireland to Iceland . only one specimen was found in Norway by Christiansen . in the faroe islands there are analogous beliefs in seal-fol tale relates how a man forced a woman transformed from a seal to marry him . she discovers the key to the chest in her husband’s usual clothes . seal folk were sea-dwelling elves the man steals the smallest of the skins, sliding it underneath his clothes . 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 seals shed their skins once a year on the Thirteenth Night . farmer watches as seals swim to shore, shedding their skin to reveal human forms . he locks the skin of a young selkie selkie woman promises vengeance for her lost kin . she exclaims that “some shall drowned, some shall fall from cliffs and slopes” death on island thought to be due to sel a man set sail dangerously late in the year, and was trapped battling a terrible storm . his wife shifted to her seal form and saved him, even though this meant she could never return to her human body . the book “the folklore of orkney and shetland” by Ernest W. Marwick cites a tale of a woman who gives birth to a son with a seal’s face . maccodrum clan claimed to be descended from a union between a fisherman and a selkie . this was an explanation for their syndactyly – a hereditary growth of skin between traditions concerning selkies may have been due to misinterpreted sightings of Finn-men (Inuit from the Davis Strait) anthropologist: strong body of lore indicates selkkies “are said selkie lore forms the central theme in “A Stranger Came Ashore” a 1975 young adult novel by Scottish author Mollie Hunter . a 1994 american/irish independent film based on the novel ed. D. L. Ashliman Annotated Selkie resources from Mermaids on the Web A Home for Selkies by Beth Winegarner Some pictures from the play Kópakonan (the Seal