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Looks can be deceiving
by William Cruithni
"Hello there!" A young man yells from the shore.
He sounds a bit anxious, so you go over to see is everything is alright.
"You look like your busy as it is, but could you help me find a seal skin? I have misplaced one, and without it, the bottom of my boat is not fully covered."
He gestures to the underside of the sleek boat and you can see the coating of skins covering the hull, but notice that there's an area where the wood is left uncovered.
"I was drying out my skins for my boat which I use for … transporting. After one of my recent ... excursions … it seems that I had misplaced one of the skins and there are none of good enough quality around here."
The man looks at you and just breaks down.
"I'm sorry, I just can't do it!" He moans. "I'm a raider … well not yet, but I want to be one soon. This boat is my older brothers, and if he finds out that something is missing, he's going to kill me!"
The boy looks down.
"He doesn't even know I have it. Will you help me find it?"
*******
One of the theories trying to determine why selkies are in folklore is that the seal skins don't actually belong to Flemish raiders to put on as their skin, but rather to be on the hulls of their ships. The Flems are descended from the Franks, which came from Germania/Belgium region. Some raided the coastlines and used slick fast boats to leave the scene quickly. The seal skins allowed them to seemingly glide over the waves. Though once they were on land again, the skins had to be dried out. This is perhaps why if a skin is taken, the owner cannot leave without it.
Also, perhaps the female selkies who have their skins taken may be referring to hostages and slaves taken by the Flemish raiders. Since a selkie wife is always thinking of escape and never happy, though she is obedient.
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Clue #4
Home to canny Celtic sailors
Traders tendered at their docks
Selkies singing in their arbor
Dwelling on the harbor rocks
Caesar with his nasty navy
Dealt these Celts a deadly blow
Sliced their sheets with sharpened sickles
Sank their fleet in depths below
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