Free Red Rocks by Rachael King

It was bad enough that he had to share his mum with Davey and Greg. He didn’t want to have it happen all over again with Dad.
    He found his thoughts drifting to what Jessie had said to him about the sealskin, and to the horrible dream he’d had that had felt so real. He was feeling a little scared about going to bed tonight.
    ‘Dad, do you know about selkies?’
    ‘Seal-people? Sure, I know the legend. I think I used to tell you about them when you were small. But I’ve got news for you, kiddo — theywere just fairy stories. If you’re hoping to catch a beautiful maiden by hiding its skin, you’re out of luck. All those seals at Red Rocks are male anyway. Bachelors who haven’t found a mate for the breeding season.’
    ‘That’s not what Ted said. He said some were girl seals.’
    ‘Well, I’ll believe that when I see it for myself. Why do you ask?’
    ‘Can you tell me again? The story?’
    ‘Aren’t you a bit old for fairy tales?’
    Jake blushed. ‘Okay, forget about it.’ He stabbed at a marshmallow with his stick.
    ‘Hey, don’t be like that,’ said Dad. ‘You’re very tetchy these days. I’d be happy to tell you what I remember.’
    Jake closed his eyes as Dad shifted on his cushion on the floor, leaning his back against the couch.
    ‘The story comes from Celtic and Norse cultures that live by the sea, like the Orkney Islands. It goes that there was once a fishermanwho was very lonely. All the women in his village were either very old or they were already married. He longed to have a wife to cook for him and keep him warm at night, and to give him children to fill his tiny cottage with laughter. Yes, I know, it’s not a very modern fairy story — don’t let your mum catch you talking about women like that.
    ‘Anyway, one day he got back from a fishing trip and he met a woman on the shore who looked a little lost and who was clad only in seaweed. He took her home and gave her clothes to wear and food to eat. She was very quiet and very, very beautiful and he fell deeply in love with her. He asked her to marry him but she said that she couldn’t, that she was a selkie and she must return to her people. But he locked her in a room and went out looking for her skin. He found it hidden in a cave in the rocks and took it home and put it in a chest in the cellar, which he locked tightly.
    ‘The woman could not return to her peoplewithout her skin. She searched and searched in vain. When she came back from looking for it, she agreed to marry him and live with him until she could find it. She learned to cook and she kept him warm at night, but every day when he went out fishing, she roamed the coast, always hunting for her skin, unaware that it was right underneath her, in the cellar.
    ‘The fisherman was very much in love with her, but she refused to give him children because she said it would be unfair on them when she returned to the sea. As the years went by and she did not find her skin, she grew sadder and sadder. She hardly ate anything and she wasn’t much more than skin and bones. Soon she was so weak she couldn’t get out of bed. The fisherman sent for the doctor, who told him the terrible news that he didn’t expect her to live much longer. The fisherman was devastated. He spent the whole night crying, and in the morning he knew what he had to do. He loved her very much and didn’t want to lose her, but ifhe gave her back her skin, she would finally be happy and free and she would live.
    ‘The woman could barely open her eyes when the sun came through the curtains, but there on her bed was her skin. Summoning the last of her energy, she took it and left the house, walking down to the sea without so much as a goodbye to the man who had loved her but who had held her prisoner for so long. Once she was wearing her skin, he never saw her again.
    ‘I think that’s how it goes,’ said Dad.
    ‘But why would a selkie come on land if she risked getting stuck as a human?’ asked Jake.