The Maiden and The Selkie-The Green Knight-Heather Dale

Song: The Maiden and The Selkie
Album: The Green Knight
Artist: Heather Dale

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Lyrics

TRACK 04

THE MAIDEN AND THE SELKIE

Heather Dale -- www.HeatherDale.com

(copyright Emily Holbert-Kellam 2009; written by Emily Holbert-Kellam. )

Heather & Ben make their living exclusively from their music. Please help support them at
The Heather Dale Store (www.HeatherDale.com/store). Many thanks!

Once a fair and handsome seal-lord lay his foot upon the sand
For to woo the fishers daughter and to claim her marriage hand.
I have come in from the ocean, I have come in from the sea,
And Ill not go o the waves, love, lest ye come along with me.

Lord, long have I loved you as a selkie on the foam.
I would gladly go and wed ye and be Lady of your home
But I cannot go into the ocean, I cannot go into the sea.
I would drown beneath your waves, love, if I went along with ye.

Lady, long have I loved you: I would have you for my wife.
I shall stay upon your shoreland though it robs me of my life.
I will stay one night beside you, never go back to the sea,
I shall stay and be thy husband though it be the death of me.

Lord, I cannot go and wed thee all to watch my lover die!
Since Ill not be left a widow I have a plan for us to try:
Let us speak with my grandmother whos ever dwelt beside the sea.
She may know some trick or treasure that I may wed my fair selkie.

So theyve gone to her grandmothers little cottage by the sea
To inquire how a maiden can be wed to her selkie.
For the selkies watery kingdom would surely rob her of her breath
But to stay on land past midnight, it would surely be his death.

Lord, I know not how to aid you you may never live on shore.
For your kind to live til dawning has never been seen before.
But my mother had a seal-coat that she buried neath a tree
For she told me that its wearer would become a fair selkie.

So theyve journeyed farther inland though the seal-lords getting weak
And shes shouldering the shovel to unearth the thing they seek.
At the rising of the full moon underneath the elfin oak
Shes unearthed that very treasure of which her grandmother spoke.

And just before the stroke of midnight they have made it back to sea
And shes donned that magic seal-coat and become a maid selkie.
Now theyve gone into the ocean, hand in hand into the sea,
She has gone along -- a fair seal-bride for her selkie.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Heather Dale. The Green Knight
• The Maiden and The Selkie
• Filk
• Folk

[Nefferduat]

You have to respect the grandmother for taking this so well. However, I imagine the conversation with the maidens father was not so pleasent.

[Sate12]

So lovely reminds me of something...

its like the little mermaid, except no one dies

[DaWhiteWolffie]

Such a nice song. I like this one better than that sad Merrow song I heard years ago.

[KrayzeeKayoss]

I love this song so much!

[Dancinfanz]

@R0thu5 hmm no the story of a selkie wife is rather common The Secret of Roan Inish is popular a fisherman takes a selkie maidens pelt and hides it and then makes her his wife. Years later she finds her pelt and leaves her children and husband to go to the sea.

[R0thu5]

@Dancinfanz You're thinking of a mermaid's veil I think, they can survive outside of the water for years. But even then they die of a broken heart if they can't return to the sea

[Ygalim]

@Dancinfanz Almost, he can only survive for one day.

[wolfluver20]

I love ur video and ur user name

[Dancinfanz]

ah this ones interesting usually its a fisherman that steals a selkie girls skin and makes her to become his wife. though the selkie can survive out of the water i like it.

[DeathByChocolate1995]

@doctorpsycho1960 what story?