The Selkae Bride

A common story told by the people around the River Galern about the capricious and mystical fae and her human lover.

Summary

Long ago, when the cities and towns hadn't risen and the world was untamed, a young man from a village near the Galern went with his friend to catch fish in the shallows. When they arrived they found an iridescent young woman bathing in the river. The young man's friend turned to him with joy for they had found a selkae. The young man urged his friend to leave her be—for the fae are known to be capricious and cruel to those that annoy them—but his friend persisted. If they could only bind the selkae with a bit of fishing twine he could take the her as bride. The young man protested but soon became ensorcelled by his friend's words and the selkae's beauty. And so the young man and his friend pulled the twine from their fishing poles and approached the bathing selkae to strike a conversation. Too crafty by half, however, the selkae realized immediately what the two men planned and tried to flee, only to be caught by the young man and his friend when they lunged wrapping the fishing twine around her neck. Bound, the fae wailed in anguish as the young man and his friend led her back to their village.
Unable to bring himself to command the trapped selkae, the young man stood by as his friend command her to wed him and act the role of dutiful wife and ensnared by the twine, the selkae did so. The young man, however, could not rest easy. At night the selkae's mournful cries kept him from sleep and he would creep to his friend's home to see her sitting by the fence. Every night he did this, and every night they spoke. What began as cautious whispers became warm conversations. All the while the young man's guilt grew as his relationship with the fae bloomed until one night he resolved to free the captured selkae.
Taking the same path he'd taken every night before, the young man returned to his friends home to see the selkae. They embraced and the young man told her of his plan: unable to stand by while such an innocent and beautiful being was enslaved he would loose her from the twine around her neck and tell his friend she had tricked him into freeing her. Overjoyed they embraced and the young man undid the bound twine around the selkea's neck and they fled to the riverside together where the Selkae granted the young man a parting kiss before returning to her home.
When the young man told his friend what had transpired, his friend was furious and marched to the riverside everyday for a month looking for his escaped bride, and every night the young man would venture to the river to beg the selkae to spare his friend. Until one night, when the young man had left to visit a neighboring village and his friend ventured once more to the river side. This time when he arrived he found the selkae waiting in the shallows, bathing herself, but when he approached she spun quickly ensnaring his throat with mossy bindings and dragging the young man's friend into the water. When the young man returned to see his fae lover he pleaded for his friends return, but his love would not let it be. The young man's friend was forever damned to serve in the fae courts as he had tried to damn the selkae.