SOURCE: "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 1882-1898) by Francis James Child

DESCRIPTION: "‘I am a man, upo the lan/An I am a silkie in the sea/And when I’m far and far frae lan/My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.’" ("The Great Silkie of Skule Skerry" by Francis James Child)

NOTES: A woman has a child by the silkie. The baby also turns out to be one the magical seal folk and he goes to sea with his father. the woman remarries. Her new husband is a hunter who kills both silkies.

HISTORY: Francis James Child did not write this ballad, only recorded it in his book, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. As with all ballads, these songs were sung and their stories told for centuries before they were written down. This song inspired Jane Yolen and Charles Vess to do a comic book version for Book of Ballads (2004).