Rhapsody in Blue

"Selkie are Orkney and Shetland fairies that take the form of seals in the sea, but when they come ashore they shed their seal skins and assume human form. Some say they are bewitched humans who can come ashore on Midsummer Eve, cast off their seal skins, and resume their true shape. Others say that they are fairies and can only take a human shape at certain times, perhaps only every Johnsmas Eve (Midsummer Eve), though others say that it is every ninth night.
Once ashore and in human form, the selkie-folk will dance on the seashore and if they are disturbed they will grab their skins and run back to the sea."

Anna Franklin, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fairies


Could a selkie lose her way and swim all the way to Turkey? I dreamed that I saw her, a silhouette against the blue, blue ocean, dancing on the shore ...