One day in the east, in Myrdal, a man was walking along the rocks on the seashore, early in the morning, when everyone was still sleeping. Approaching a grotto, he heard people dancing there, and outside he noticed several seal skins. He took one of them, took it to himself and locked it in a chest.
In the afternoon he went to the grotto again. A beautiful girl sat there, completely naked, and cried. It was a seal whose skin was taken by a man. He gave the girl clothes, consoled her and took her to the house. She became attached to him, but was not friends with anyone else. Often she sat and looked at the sea.
After some time, the man married her. They lived in harmony and had children. The peasant kept the skin locked in the chest, and kept the key with him wherever he went.
One day, many years later, he went to sea, forgetting the key under his pillow. Others say that the peasant went to Christmas mass with his people, and that his wife was ill and could not go with them; after changing clothes, he forgot to take the key out of the pocket of his casual clothes. When he returned, the chest was open, and his wife and the sealskin had disappeared.
She took the key, opened the chest out of curiosity and found the skin. Then she could not resist the temptation, said goodbye to the children, put on the skin and threw herself into the sea. They say that before this she whispered:
What should I do?
Seven children at sea
Seven on the ground.
They say that the man was very sad. Then, when he went fishing, some kind of seal kept swimming around his boat, and it seemed that tears were flowing from his eyes. Since then, that man always had a good catch and was often lucky.
When their children walked along the shore, people often saw a seal swimming in the sea not far from them - both when they walked on solid ground and when along the edge of the water - throwing them colorful fish and beautiful shells. But their mother never returned to earth.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru