Now the seal is a strange creature, in’it? Not particularly beautiful, yet graceful in the water. Playful. We look into the seal’s big black eyes and wish we could wrap ourselves in her skin, that we could rather gaze on the beautiful woman we perceive. We would entrap and enslave her, we would have her bear our children, perfect children, and we would tap all joy from her life to satisfy our own momentary desires.
When viewed in this light, the myth of Selkie becomes an allegory for how we humans like to tame wild things and keep them caged for our own scheduled amusements. So we can walk past and point to our children: Look, a tiger! Look, a bear! Look, the seals! And the seals jump and dance and balance red balls on their noses, all for little treats. And they would rather jump and dance and balance their lives in freedom.
By the end of the story, Selkie escapes back into the deep ocean. Ah, the ocean, which is it’s own topic for a symbolic discussion!
Oh yes and there’s an assumption here: All seals are Selkie.
Obviously.
How would we be able to bear living in a world where that is not true?