Orkney Folk Tales Page 9

  That evening, as the man turned the cart for home, the bairns were curled up asleep in the back. But when he got near the house he could see that something was wrong. There was no light in the window, no smoke coming out of the chimney and the front door was standing wide open. A sudden fear gripped him and he ran inside shouting for his wife, but there was no reply. Then a terrible thought came to him and he ran to the ben end and there was the kist standing with the lid wide open and the skin was gone. Finally he realised what had happened. In his haste to get away he had changed his clothes in a hurry and he had forgotten to take the key with him. When the selkie wife was tidying up, she hadn’t been looking for the key, but when she picked up his clothes she could feel the key in the pocket of his jacket. She took it out and looked at it. She knew what that key opened and what was inside, waiting for her. She ran through to the ben end and put the key into the lock and turned it with a click. Slowly she opened the lid, and there was her skin. When she saw it the urge just to touch it one more time was too strong. Once she had touched it the urge just to pick it up was too strong. When she picked it up the urge just to hold it against herself was too strong and once she smelt the salt on the skin the urge to run to the shore was too strong to resist. When she reached the sea she gave a cry of anger and desperation, pulled on the skin and dived into the sea as a seal once more.

  The man searched along the shore for his selkie wife, but he never saw her again for as long as he lived. But it was said that when the bairns used to go down to the shore to play, a selkie would swim backwards and forwards in front of them; sobbing like its heart was breaking.

  It was not just selkie women who had relationships with humans, sometimes selkie men would quite willingly seek out a human lover, as the following story demonstrates.

  URSILLA AND HER SELKIE LOVER

  Ursilla Balfour was the daughter of the laird of Stronsay, his only child and heir to his estate. She was a beautiful young woman, but she was proud, overbearing, strong willed and quick to anger. Her father tried to push her into marriage; not for love but as a good financial business transaction. If she married the son of another laird then it would unite two wealthy families and increase their fortune and reputation. But Ursilla was having none of it. No matter how hard her father tried she would always send away the hapless suitors who came to court her. It looked like Ursilla would never marry, but there was a very good reason why she refused to accept the proposals that she received. You see, Ursilla Balfour was already in love. The object of her desires was not the son of a rich laird, but the man who worked in her father’s barn. She watched him go about his work and the fires of love burned fiercely inside her. But she had to hide her feelings and she did this very well for she treated the poor man like dirt. He was often on the wrong end of Ursilla’s sharp tongue and many a row he received from her. However, as long as her father lived, Ursilla had to keep her love for the barn man a secret.

  One day Ursilla’s luck changed and her father died, leaving her with all his land and money. The first thing that she did was to go to the barn man and say, ‘Right you; get home and wash and shave.’

  ‘Why?’ he asked, somewhat puzzled by her order.

  ‘Because you’re going to be married.’

  ‘Married,’ he spluttered, ‘married to whom?’

  ‘Why, married to me of course! Don’t you know that I love you?’

  ‘Eh, no,’ he said, even more confused than before, ‘I can’t say that I had noticed.’

  ‘Well, I do, and you need a wash and a shave before I get you ready for our marriage. Hurry up now; run along!’

  The poor man was in a terrible fix. He certainly didn’t love her, in fact, he didn’t even like her. But she was the laird now and her word was law. If he refused he would be evicted from his house and would have to find himself a new home on another island. Maybe Ursilla would take out her anger on his family and his parents, brothers and sisters might suffer the same fate. No, he had to do it, no matter how much the idea appalled him. Ursilla, meanwhile, wasted no time in sending out the wedding invites to all the lairds whose sons had failed to win her. It caused quite a scandal; Ursilla Balfour marrying a common farm servant. How awful!

  ‘It won’t last,’ they said, ‘six months; that’s all I give it. Marrying so far beneath yourself; it’s disgusting!’

  But Ursilla didn’t care, she loved her handsome barn man and she was going to marry him no matter what they said. But the old saying is true; ‘marry in haste, repent at leisure’, and that’s what happened to Ursilla Balfour. The man didn’t love her and the marriage bed remained a cold, lonely place. She soon came to realise that she had acted too rashly in marrying the man. But it was too late to do anything about it and she didn’t want to give the other lairds the satisfaction of saying, ‘I told you so!’

  She had to maintain the pretence of a happy marriage, but she was a passionate woman and she had needs. If her husband didn’t love her then she would take a lover to keep her warm at night. But if she was found out then there would be another scandal and she couldn’t trust any of the lairds’ sons to keep quiet about such an arrangement. However, Ursilla was a strong-willed, determined woman and she decided that she would find a lover among the selkie folk. She went down to the sea early one morning and waited until the tide was full and then she shed seven tears into the water. Some folk said that they were the only tears that she ever shed in her life. As the ripples from the final tear were fading away the head of a great selkie broke the surface of the water and swam towards her. When it was near it rose from the water and pulled back the skin, revealing a strong, handsome face.

  ‘What do you want from me, fair lady?’ asked the selkie man.

  ‘I have made a bad marriage and the bed is a cold, unloving place. I want to feel strong arms around me. I want to be loved and to make love.’

  ‘So, you’ve come to the selkie folk?’

  ‘Yes, I have.’

  ‘Well, I will come to you and satisfy your needs, but I can only take human form every seventh stream.29 Meet me here at that time.’

  With that the selkie man covered his face and slid beneath the waves.

  At the next seventh stream Ursilla hurried to the shore and the selkie man rose up and shed his skin and they embraced. All of Ursilla’s needs and desires were answered that night and when it was time for them to part she promised to come back to him at the next seventh stream.

  It was noted that Ursilla was in a much better mood after that. Her servants also noticed that she was putting on weight, especially around the belly. As the time passed it became obvious that there was more than one heart beating inside Ursilla’s body. When her time came she gave birth to a fine baby boy, strong limbed, brown eyed and with webbed hands and feet. Now didn’t that tell a story? The nurse clipped the webs of skin between the fingers and toes, but they kept growing back again. The nurse continued to clip them until, as they couldn’t grow in the usual place, they spread onto the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet as a horny, thick skin. It is said that this condition, known as ‘hard hands’ in Stronsay, is still to be seen in the descendant of Ursilla Balfour and her selkie lover to this day.

  7

  TWO CLASSICS AND

  A TRAVELLERS’ TALE

  These next two tales are classic stories that were said to be collected by Andrew Lang (1844–1912) from an old woman in Rousay in the late nineteenth century and published in Longman’s Magazine in 1889. Lang is famous for his series of ‘Rainbow Fairy Books’ that were published from 1889–1910, but he was not an active collector so the claim may be false. These two stories were hailed as a true representation of old folk tales that had not been interfered with. They have elements of European tales and from the description of the wooded countryside in ‘Kate Crackernuts’ it could not have been inspired by the treeless landscape of Orkney and is more akin to the tales of the Scottish Travellers. ‘Peerie Fool’ also has elements of well-known European and Sca
ndinavian folk tales, although the old woman told the Orkney folklorist Duncan J. Robertson that this was an old Orkney story. The word ‘peerie’ means ‘little’ and is still used in Shetland. The earliest Orkney dialect writing uses the word ‘peerie’, but in Orkney it changed into ‘peedie’ during the nineteenth century.

  KATE CRACKERNUTS

  There was once a king who had a beautiful young daughter called Anne who was the apple of his eye. However, tragedy struck the family when Anne’s mother, the queen, took ill and died. After a while the king married again, taking a widowed queen as his wife. This queen had a daughter called Kate, who was about the same age as Anne. Kate loved nothing more than cracking nuts and eating them, so she was called Kate Crackernuts. Although these two princesses were not related they loved each other like true sisters. The queen, on the other hand, was jealous of Anne as she was more beautiful than her own daughter and she decided that she would find a way to spoil her lovely looks. She paid a visit to the hen wife who lived in a little tumbled-down cottage in the woods and kept the castle supplied with eggs. The hen wife was a black-hearted witch and she plotted with the queen to curse young Anne and rob her of her beauty.

  ‘Send her to me tomorrow morning first thing,’ said the hen wife, ‘and make sure that she is fasting.’

  The next morning the queen got Anne up early and told her to go to the hen wife to collect eggs. She got up, dressed, took a basket and went down the back stairs. As she was passing the kitchen she saw a piece of bread and so she took it and ate it on the road. When she reached the hen wife’s cottage she knocked at the door and heard a voice telling her to come in. She opened the door and saw in the inky blackness inside that there was a pot boiling over a fire.

  ‘Lift the lid of the pot and see,’ said the hen wife.

  Anne lifted the lid of the pot but saw nothing other than a broth bubbling away. The hen wife seemed annoyed, telling her, ‘Go home and tell your mother to keep the larder door bolted.’

  The queen was angry when she heard this, as she knew that the princess must have eaten something, but she said nothing. The next day she sent Anne back to the hen wife, but this time she went to the door with her, to make sure that she didn’t have anything to eat on the way. As Anne walked down the road she met some people who were picking peas and they gave her some to eat. When she lifted the lid of the pot for a second time nothing happened.

  ‘Tell your mother that the pot can’t boil without the fire,’ said the hen wife.

  The queen was very angry this time, as she knew that the girl must have eaten something, so on the third morning she went with her all the way to the hen wife’s cottage, just to make sure. This time when Anne was told to lift the lid of the pot she again saw the broth bubbling away but suddenly a sheep’s head popped up to the surface and stared at her. Then Anne’s beautiful head fell off and the sheep’s head jumped onto her shoulders and took its place. The queen and the hen wife laughed at her, but she could do nothing but weep. When the queen took her back to the castle and Kate saw her they both cried on each other’s shoulder. Then Kate carefully wrapped up Anne’s head in bandages and led her out of the castle. They walked and walked a long way, searching for a cure for Anne’s condition and to escape the evil queen.

  After a while they came to another kingdom and headed towards the castle. Kate knocked on the door and said that she had travelled a very long way and that her sister was ill. Since they were both very tired and hungry she asked if they had any work that she could do in return for a bed and something to eat. Soon she was given a job in the kitchen washing pots and peeling vegetables. However, Kate noticed that the castle was not a happy place, everyone seemed sad and there was no music or laughter. She was told that the king’s eldest son was gravely ill and near to death. He was growing weaker every day by some sort of sorcery, but no one was brave enough to sit with him all night to find out the cause of it. Kate said that she would sit with him that night if she was paid a peck of silver and the king was happy to agree to this.

  That night Kate was sat by the fireside cracking nuts when the clock struck midnight. Suddenly the prince’s eyes opened and he got up and dressed. Then he slipped down the back stairs, followed by Kate, and headed to the stable where he saddled his horse, called for his hound and rode away into the night. Kate jumped up behind him; the prince never even noticed that she was there. As they rode through the woods Kate plucked nuts from the trees and put them into the pocket of her apron. Eventually they reached a large, green hill and the prince called out, ‘Open! Open, green hill, and let the young prince in with his horse and his hound.’

  ‘And his lady behind him,’ said Kate.

  The green hill opened and they rode inside. There was a beautiful hall within the hill, brightly lit and richly furnished. The prince got off the horse and was surrounded by beautiful fairy ladies who led him away to dance while Kate hid behind the door and watched. They danced with him all night long and if he swooned on a sofa they would fan him and then raise him up to dance again. This was what was wrong with him; he was being danced to death by the fairies. When the cock crowed the prince mounted his horse and Kate jumped up behind him and they rode back to the castle where he went back to his bed. Kate sat once more by the fire, cracking nuts and eating them.

  The next morning the king was delighted to find her there. She said that he had passed a peaceful night. She was offered a peck of gold to sit with him for another night and she willingly accepted. Again she sat with the prince and it all went the same that night as it had done on the first night. The prince rose, saddled his horse and rode to the green hill to dance with the fairy ladies all night long. This time Kate hid behind the door and saw a small fairy child playing with a wand. She overheard one of the fairies say to another, ‘If only Kate knew that three strokes of that wand would make her sister as beautiful as ever.’

  Kate rolled nuts towards the fairy child and he dropped the wand and chased after them. Kate took the wand, slipped it into her apron pocket and left with the prince when the cock crowed.

  The following morning the king was delighted to see Kate still sitting with his son. He asked her what price she would take to stay a third night with him. Kate asked to marry him, and so it was agreed. Kate then rushed off to the room where her sister was and gave her three strokes on the head with the wand. The sheep’s head tumbled off and her own beautiful head jumped onto her shoulders just like she was before.

  That night went the same as the first two, with the prince riding to the green hill and dancing with the fairy ladies. Kate hid behind the door and saw the fairy child was playing with a brightly coloured bird. She overheard one of the fairies say to another, ‘If only Kate knew that three bites of that bird would cure the sick prince.’

  She rolled nuts over the floor towards the child who dropped the bird and ran after them. Kate grabbed the bird, put it in her apron pocket and left with the prince when the cock crowed.

  That night, instead of sitting cracking nuts by the fireside, Kate plucked the bird and started to roast it over the fire. Soon a delicious aroma filled the room and the prince opened his eyes and said, ‘Oh, if only I had a bite of that bird.’

  Kate gave him a bite and the prince raised himself up on one elbow and said, ‘Oh, if only I had another bite of that bird.’

  Kate gave him a second bite and the prince sat up and said, ‘Oh, if only I had a third bite of that bird.’

  Kate gave him a third bite and the spell was broken. When the king came into the room the following morning he saw Kate and the prince sitting by the fire, cracking nuts together. He was delighted and the wedding was arranged. The prince had a brother and when he saw Anne, looking so beautiful again, he fell in love with her and they were married too. So the sick prince married the well sister and the well prince married the sick sister and they lived there in peace and happiness for the rest of their days and never drank out of a dry cup.

  PEERIE FOOL

  There was on
ce a king and queen who lived in Rousay with their three daughters. The king died and the queen and the princesses fell on hard times until all they had left was a small house, a cow and a kale yard. It started to become obvious that someone was stealing their kale during the night, so the eldest princess decided that she would wrap a blanket around herself and sit out all night to watch for the thief. Nothing happened until the very middle of the night. Then the princess saw a huge giant come striding over the kale yard wall, dump a big straw basket on the ground and start to cut the kale. She shouted at him to stop, asking him why he was taking her mother’s kale, but he just looked at her and said, ‘If you are not quiet I will take you too.’

  Once the giant had filled his basket he grabbed the princess by the arm and leg, tossed her into the basket on top of the kale and carried her off.

  When they got to the giant’s house he told her that she had to work for him. He wanted her to milk the cow and put it out to pasture on the high hill. Then she had to wash, comb, card, spin and weave a great pile of wool. If the cloth was not ready when he came home then she would be in trouble. The eldest princess milked the cow and put it out to the pasture on the high hill and then came back to the giant’s house. She was hungry and so she took a pot and started to make some porridge for her breakfast. Then, all of a sudden, a whole lot of tiny yellow-haired people came crowding around her, begging for a bite to eat, but the princess refused, saying: