Selkies, Gaelic Songs, and Highlander Mythology: Short Stories

The Shame of Loving a Human as a Selkie

The Shame of Loving a Human as a Selkie

I feel like saying tha gaol agam ort but my back is against the wall of shame and fear and guilt. Not about you but about me and I feel uneasiness stepping out of the ocean. Shedding my seal skin and lying beside you as a human. You can undo that fear with just a kiss but kisses are not enough. Our bodies are not enough. Love is not enough. I feel like if I told you about mo ghràdh dhuit you will fear me and lock the door to your cottage by the ocean and I'll have to spend the night singing by the shore.

But then you come out of your cottage and you wrap a blanket around me and stop me from shivering and I lean my head against your shoulder. I wait for the sunlight to hit the shore. I look back with sadness in my eyes. I kiss your lips for the last time.

I have to leave, I say between kisses.

I know.

I leave you, never to return, until the next night.

The Heartache of Loving a Selkie as a Human

They are my love, they are beautiful. I don't care if they are a seal. They're a whole human being in my eyes and I'm just a selkie as much as they are a human in my eyes. I don't feel like I have to be alone anymore. I have them. They have me. It's so beautiful. I love them more than anything as well. I know that they have to leave and transform back into a seal and I just have to love them and I grieve their human form during the day. I long for the night and I long for them. How I yearn. I hate to admit to myself that I love them with all my heart and all my being. I don't want to see them sad or hurt by my actions. I would never steal their coat or make them stand by my side but I would be heartbroken if they ever were to reject me.

I kiss them so tenderly so that they know that I love them with all my heart and that I care whether they return to me or not.

I wait for the night with bated breath for my love. They are all that I want and they are all that I need.