A Gift From the Sea
Long ago, the life of a warrior was measured by his opponents. In all the known lands, the children of the Lochlann king were by far the best fighters. There were eight of them. Four boys and four girls. They were as beautiful as they were strong, with their dark hair and wide, brown eyes.
Mothers trained their children in combat, and the Lochlann queen was an unrivaled teacher. Each of her children held a special gift in endurance, strength, speed, grace and many other qualities besides, so that their band of eight could easily defeat twice their number. As they grew, they became the target of many who wished to be remembered in the songs for their bravery.
The children were barely when their mother was laid to rest in a great flaming ship sent out to sea, as was befitting such a queen. She’d been as beautiful and strong as the children she bore, and when she died the King had no eye for a woman for many years. In the end, it was his own children who persuaded him to search for someone to fill his loneliness. He left half-heartedly, but returned with a renewed glow in his eyes and a beautiful wife. Although still very young, she was already a widow left frail from the disease that had killed her first husband.
It wasn’t hard for the new wife to take the children into her heart as if they were her own. She loved the king dearly and his children were an extension of that love. But there was always a distance between them, because the children saw no strength or bravery in this new queen.
Even with their differences the family might’ve eventually found contentment, but a great force gathered to attack Lochlann. The Lochlannach, each and every one, prepared for the upcoming fight. The fragile queen was the only citizen unfit for battle, and the king was uncertain how best to protect her. At last he decided to send her to a remote cave in the cliffs high above the sea. He trusted only his own children to act as her guards. The children did know the love and happiness the new queen gave to their father, and for this they hoped she’d live, but they didn’t want to be left out of the fight. Send her up alone. Surely the Lachlannach could defeat anyone before they came so far as such a remote cave.
The queen also fought the plan. If the invaders were able to cross to her, it would mean her husband must be dead. How could he let her live a second time as a widow, and her life in the hands of the enemy would be far worse than death. Her husband wouldn’t be swayed. He didn’t have the heart to lose another wife. When she saw her persuasions had failed, the queen contrived a plan of her own. Courage isn’t only found in battle. The queen waited at the edge of the waves in search of a Finn man. It wasn’t long before she spotted one in a slender boat made of animal skins. He skimmed along the surface of the water with unlikely speed. The Fin men are known as eloquent seducers. Not many humans would call out to a Finn, especially a woman alone.
The queen knew they were also gifted in sorcery. If she could learn a few of his secrets, she would contribute something useful to her new family. She called out to him, and he was beside her before she could blink an eye.
Finn folk have a great weakness for silver and can’t resist it. The queen chose three silver pieces from a leather purse she carried at her hip and held them out with a shaking hand.
“Three silver coins for three magical secrets,” she said.
He had a dilemma. What did he want more, the beautiful human or her silver?
“Lie down with me here on the rocks,” he offered. “We’ll enjoy something truly magical.”
The queen blushed, but she kept her hand out and made her bid again. “Three silver coins for three magical secrets.”
The Finn stroked his chin. “Are you aware that my magic will be considered dark arts in your world?”
Afraid to speak, she moved her head slowly up and down.
“Don’t you believe your soul will be tarnished? And to what purpose?
He searched for the queen’s weakness in the hope that he might attain both her and the coins. She wasn’t swayed.
“Three silver coins for three magical secrets.”
Too fast for human eyes, the Finn snatched the silver from the queen’s hand and took hold of her face. He blew a magic breath into her as they plunged into the sea. They dove deep into the blue water farther and farther from the sun and the air. The queen decided she was stolen for sure and would never see the surface again.
But the Finn kept to the queen’s bargain. He brought her to a place in the underworld of Tir na Nog where she might learn from him for a year, while in her own world only minutes had passed. When the queen reappeared on the shore, she was a strong and powerful sorceress with eyes that radiated bright understanding of our true world.
In his love, the king was blind to her sudden change, but his children noticed. In spite of their bravery, their blood ran cold whenever they were near her.
The day came for the queen to hide in the remote cave with her stepchildren. Before she left, she walked in a circle around the king and whispered strange words under her breath. She told him it was just a small prayer she had brought with her from her own land, but it was really a spell that made him untouchable in battle. Leaving him with the first of her magical secrets, she was certain he would live.
From the far-away cave, children and stepmother waited out the uncomfortable silence. For two days, they watched their army camp unmolested on the beach. At sunrise on the third day, the attackers swarmed, but the Lochlann camp slept unaware. The enemy army stalked from the other side. They hadn’t come to do battle with the people of Lochlann; they’d come for the children.
The Lochlannoch children formed a circle around their stepmother. She was surrounded by the cries of battle, the crash of metal, the smell of blood and sweat and fear. She formed her own ring of protective enchantment around her family and held it as long as her mind would allow.
The children fought well. The floor of the cave couldn’t be seen beneath the bodies of fallen adversaries, but more lined up to meet the children in combat. The queen felt the strength of her magic begin to fade, and though they weren’t injured, the children were spent from the fight. She raised her arms and called out to the forces of nature. Winds swirled and waves smashed against the jagged rocks. The warriors dropped their swords to their sides, and the fighting stopped as they watched her. After a time, the seas became calm and stretched smooth as the best woven fabric. The queen opened her eyes and looked to her stepchildren.
“Run into the sea,” she commanded them. “I’ve cast a spell that will allow you to hide deep in the ocean, as strong and swift and courageous in the water as you have been on the land. If your captors wish to follow you, they will drown.”
The exhausted children could fight no longer. They clambered down the rocks with their approaching captors at their heels. As soon as the feet of the children hit the sea, they cried out in pain, but they didn’t stop. They dove into the waves and in their place appeared eight silver seal heads. Some of the enemy did attempt to catch them, but each one who tried was dragged under by the powerful current. The rest stayed in the cave and turned their swords toward the queen. No one dared make the first move.
What now, wondered the queen. She turned toward the sea where she’d found the magic of a Finn man.
A warrior near the queen saw indecision cross her face. He made his move, plunging a knife deep into her chest.
The air grew hot and still. No birds called from the sky. No waves crashed against the rocks. Every human breath suspended.
Something…some…being shot through the taut surface of the ocean. He appeared bow first in a slender animal skin boat without causing even one ripple on the water around him. His presence seemed tied to the stagnant suppression of life that had settled upon the world. The face that stared up at the group on the cliff was inhumanly emotionless, but when his sharp, raptor-like eyes fell on the limp body of the queen, the sea began to churn and froth around him. Clouds gathered in the sky. Towering gray waves clawed at the mouth of the cave.
The terrified warriors ran as fast as they could. They knew it was unlucky to cross the sea folk. Those who made it back to their ships hoisted their sails and sped away, only to face storms the likes of which have not been seen before or since.
The abandoned body of the poor queen dangled over a rock high above the wild sea. A drop of blood rolled from her chest down the smooth curve of her arm, over her hand, along her finger until it hovered for a moment like a teardrop from the tip of her nail. It fell reluctantly into the water. One spot of red suspended in the tumultuous ocean. A combination of the queen’s life force and the magic she created merged with the rage of a Finn. The unspoken spell to bring the children back to human form was forever altered by the sea.
And so…in return for the gift of their lives, the children of the king of Lochlan and their descendants became the selkie. They might shed their sealskin to walk once more in human form upon the earth, but they live always between two worlds, wishing for land while in the water and for the water while on the land. Many times a man has seen a beautiful selkie shed her seal skin to dance on the beach. Filled with desire, the man will steal the woman’s skin and hide it. Unable to return to the water, the woman will live with him, until the day one of their children finds the skin.When such a woman is held to the land, the wild ocean will always call to her back.
Let her go before she breaks your heart.