Beautiful black eyes

Imagine being a seal. I think it must be a soft, smooth feeling, a wonderful experience swimming in water. Playful, perhaps. 


There are a good few versions of the tales of the Selkie folk from the North Atlantic rim. Often believed to be seals who have lost their skin and become human, or just simply shape-shifters with powers to create storms, break up ships and cast spells. They are also seen as loving and loyal towards humans too, perhaps in the trusting way that seals can be as well. 

Some confuse them with mermaids - but mermaids are different creatures altogether of course. A fish tail is just that after all. 


They are magical creatures, seals that is. WIth beautiful black eyes and an amazing gracefulness in water. But they are also wild and deserve to be left alone. There have been stories about seals attacking people on the coast of Florida - any animal will do that to fight over food or defend itself. Some of these attacks have been blamed on chemicals in the environment, affecting seals' brains.


Would I go swimming with seals and dolphins - not too sure. I've always believed that the wilderness should be left alone, but I do like playful communicative creatures. Ever since Marine Boy, I've been fond of our sea critters, even studying Life In The Oceans. Sometimes it helps to know some facts when writing stories -not everything can be imagined.






The Mermaid Bride and Other Orkney Folktales by Tom Muir, Kirkwall, 1998, contains 63 short tales

A Goat called Happy

Whilst collecting stories for Family Legends yesterday at the local library, a lady told me a wee story about a goat. I like goats, so thought it apt to jot it down here at JAGG World.

'My great grandfather was known as a very kind man and one day a group of raggedy children came to his door with a kid goat on a string and said, "Mr Gregory, you're a kind man, our father wants to kill the goat. Will you take it?"

So of course, being a kind man he did take it, and the goat moved in. He really moved in. He didn't quite sit in the best chair, but he did lay on the hearth at night in front of the fire. Of course, he got bigger and bigger, and hairier and more goaty as the weeks went by. And so the goat lived in the house and we all had to accommodate its foibles. It was called Happy.

My great-aunt used to come visit. She did not like Happy. She would stand at the garden gate with her umbrella (ladies always had umbrellas those days) shouting, "Be off you horrid beast." She would not enter the house until someone had taken Happy away by the horn. Needless to say, he stayed with my great grandfather for a long time, living mostly in the garden, but every night that it was cold he would come and lay in front of the fire before going to bed.

Hallowe'en

It's on the 31st not the 30th. That's what I said to the group that knocked on my door last night. Maybe a bit mean, but I had nothing prepared. In about 10 minutes I will be popping corn, and dunking marsh malllows in melted chocolate, then spiking them on wooden sticks in threes. A bowl of monkey nuts and some sweets will do.

I hope they are all scarey and funny, if not then we may have to deal with them. We have a special cup, into which we pour a dark deadly syrup -if we think someone is boring, then they have to drink from the cup.

Some guisers never leave our house.........