The scottish story: a sad tale of a man and his seal-maiden

The Scottish tale The Goodman of Wastness that Mr Tsang chose to read to children yesterday is from the folklore of the Orkney Islands, where such tales usually come with a sad ending. The most common theme in these tales is one in which a cunning young man acquires, either by trickery or theft, the skin of a 'seal-girl' from the sea. This prevents her from going back and leaving her with no option but to marry the man.

In The Goodman of Wastness, a handsome young man was wandering a beach one day and spotted a number of seal skins unattended on the sand where seal folk were sunbathing. Most were quick enough to grab their skins and retreat to the sea as Goodman approached, but he managed to seize one belonging to a beautiful seal maiden. However hard she begged to have her skin back, Goodman was not moved and would not relent, as he had fallen in love with her. He married her and she bore him four boys and three girls.

One day, as Goodman and his four sons were out fishing and two of his daughters played on the beach, his wife started looking for her long-lost skin. The youngest girl, at home because she had hurt her foot, knew where it was and told her mother. Finding it, the seal-wife plunged back into the sea. As she swam out, she met Goodman rowing home and said to him: 'Farewell, Goodman of Wastness. Farewell to you. I liked you because you were good to me, but I love my husband from the sea more.' That was the last the Goodman saw of her.