The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"
"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"
	Vernon Hill's illustration of the tale. From Richard Chope's 1912 collection Ballads Weird and Wonderful.
Song
Genre	Folk song
Songwriter(s)	Unknown

"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" or "The Grey Selkie of Sule Skerry" is a traditional folk song from Orkney and Shetland. A woman has her child taken away by its father, the great selkie of Sule Skerry which can transform from a seal into a human. The woman is fated to marry a gunner who will harpoon the selkie and their son.

"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" is a short version from Shetland published in the 1850s and later listed as Child ballad number 113. "The Grey Selkie of Sule Skerry" is the title of the Orcadian texts, about twice in length. There is also a greatly embellished and expanded version of the ballad called "The Lady Odivere".

Shetland version

"The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" was collected from a lady from Snarra Voe, Shetland, and 7 verses from its transcription were published by Capt. F. W. L. Thomas in the 1850s. It was later included in Francis James Child's anthology, and catalogued as Child ballad number 113.^[2]

Alan Bruford has noted that "silkie" is an anomalous spelling for "selkie", and in other ballad specimens, the mythical being instead of being a "great" selkie is rather a "grey" selkie.^[3]

The ballad begins:

1. An earthly nourris^† sits and sings,
And aye she sings, "Ba lilly wean,^†
Little ken^† I my bairn's father,
Far less the land that he staps in."^†

2. Then ane^† arose at her bed fit,^†
And a grumly^† guest I'm sure was he,
Saying "Here am I, thy bairn's father,
Although I am not comely."

nourris = a woman who is employed to suckle a small child - a wetnurse.^{[† 1]}
ba lilly wean = howl lovely child.^{[† 2]}^{[† 3]}^{[† 4]}
ken = know.^{[† 5]}
staps = stops or stays.^{[† 6]}
ane = one.^{[† 7]}
bed fit = bed foot i.e. foot of the bed.^{[† 8]}
grumly = troubled^{[† 9]}

A synopsis is as follows: A woman, nursing a baby, laments that she does not know the child's father or where he lives. A man rises up to tell her that he is the father, and that he is a silkie — a shapeshifter that takes the form of a man on the land and a seal in the sea, and that he lives on a remote rocky island called Sule Skerry. He gives her a purse full of gold, takes his son, and predicts that she will marry a gunner who will shoot both him and their son.^[4]

Orkney version

There are Orkney versions which place the heroine's setting in Scandinavia,^[5] opening with the line: "In Norway land there lived a maid".

"The Grey Selchie of Shool Skerry" was published by R. Menzies Fergusson in Rambling Sketches in the Far North (1883), changing its title to "The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerrie" in the second edition, Rambles in the Far North (1884).^[6]

The same 14-stanza version with some spelling differences, entitled "The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerry" was printed in the 11 January 1934 issue of The Orcadian newspaper. It was later reprinted by Finnish folklorist Otto Andersson, who also collected a traditional ballad tune for it.^[7]^[8]

This version contains an exchange in which the seal-groom's marriage proposal is declined by the Norwegian nurse.^[7] The selkie makes the same fateful prediction as in the Shetland version, that the woman will marry a gunner, who will shoot both the selkie and their son. It further supplies the grim conclusion that the gunner brings back a gold chain which she recognizes as the one that was given to her son to wear.^[9]

Lady Odivere

A cognate to the "Grey Selkie of Suleskerry" includes "The Play of Lady Odivere" ("The Play of de Lathie Odivere").^[5] This piece is a dramatic ballad in style, over 90 stanzas long.^[10] And it may be in large part a piece of contrived fiction by Walter Traill Dennison, mish-mashed into a kernel of a traditional ballad, in the estimation of modern folklorist Alan Bruford.^[11]

Here, the Lady Odivere is in peril of being burnt at the stake for adultery by her husband, when she is rescued by San Imravoe, a selchie who is a jarl of high degree in his realm.^[5]^[11] ^[12]

Ballad tunes

The original tune was preserved by Andersson, who heard it sung by John Sinclair on the island of Flotta, Orkney.^[7]^[8] Andersson said, "I had no idea at the time that I was the first person to write down the tune. The pure pentatonic form of it and the beautiful melodic line showed me that it was a very ancient melody that I had set on paper".^[13]

The best known tune today is non-traditional, having been written by Jim Waters in 1954. Child was interested only in the texts of the ballads he collected, and Jim explains that the tune was "just the best I could do as a way to get a fine ballad sung".^{[citation needed]} Over the next two years, he introduced the ballad to the Boston area at a time when "hootenannies" filled the Great Court of MIT on a weekly basis (before recorded folk songs were widely available). Jim Butler added the song to his repertoire, according to his notes, in October 1954, on a page labelled "MITOC Supp.", being the MIT Outing Club addition to his typewritten Child Ballads. Butler taught the song to several people, including Bonnie Dobson. This is the tune that Joan Baez popularized as "Silkie" in the early 1960s. Waters' own daughter recorded a version of the song in 2024.

Although Jean Redpath disparaged Water's tune as "phony", preferring a longer version of Child 113 to another tune, by 1965, Jim Butler had heard Waters' tune sung by a Scottish student at the University of British Columbia, unaccompanied in the traditional style, and under the impression that he had learned it from his grandfather. "This has to be one of the most flattering things that has ever happened to me",^{[citation needed]} added Waters, who eventually copyrighted his version and assigned it to Folk Legacy Records. Folk Legacy reassigned all copyright interest to James Waters in August, 2012.

American folksinger Pete Seeger set the poem I Come and Stand at Every Door by Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet to Waters's tune for "The Great Silkie" in the early 1950s. In this version, the song takes the point of view of a child victim of atomic warfare.

Recordings

Joan Baez recorded it as "Silkie" on her 1961 album Joan Baez, Vol. 2.
Pete Seeger included his version of Hikmet's "I Come and Stand at Every Door" on a 1964 concert album, I Can See a New Day.
The American rock band The Byrds included the Hikmet/Seeger version on their third album, Fifth Dimension (1966).
The Seeger song was later covered by This Mortal Coil.
Roger McGuinn of the Byrds later recorded the song with its original lyrics as part of his Folk Den project.
The English folk rock band Trees included one variant, as "The Great Silkie", on The Garden of Jane Delawney, their debut album.
Glasgow-born folk singer Ray Fisher (1940–2011) included the song on her album The Bonny Birdy (1972). Her brother Archie Fisher has a version on his Orfeo (1970).
Judy Collins included her version, "Great Selchie of Shule Skerry", on her 1962 album Golden Apples of the Sun.^[14]
The Breton folk band Tri Yann also penned an adaptation in French called "Le Dauphin" (the dolphin) on their 1972 album Tri Yann an Naoned.
The Highwaymen recorded this song twice, with two different versions. The first version was on their 1962 album Standing Room Only, and the second version was on their 2005 album The Water of Life.
In 1981 Angelo Branduardi recorded this tune on his album Branduardi '81, with lyrics by Esenin. The song is titled "La cagna". In 2013 re-recorded this tune (titled: "Silkie") with original lyrics adapted in Italian language, on his album Il Rovo E La Rosa.
The Irish band Solas included one variant, "Grey Selchie", on their 1998 album The Words That Remain.
A version appears on Maddy Prior's 1999 album Ravenchild.
Alasdair Roberts included his version of "The Grey Silkie of Sule Skerry" on his CD You Need Not Braid Your Hair for Me: I Have Not Come A-Wooing, released in 2005.
Dave Bainbridge and Troy Donockley perform a version of the song on their 2005 album When Worlds Collide.^[15]
The Breton singer Cécile Corbel recorded it on her album Songbook Vol.2 (2008).
Steeleye Span recorded it as a hidden track on their 2009 album Cogs, Wheels and Lovers.
Singer/songwriter and cellist Liz Davis Maxfield recorded a version titled “The Great Selkie” on her 2009 album Big Fiddle. ^[16]
In 2011 June Tabor recorded it on her album Ashore.
English folk band The Unthanks perform a version of the song on their 2022 album 'Sorrows Away'.
Jim Waters' daughter Susan sang this song for the Derek Piotr Fieldwork Archive in 2024.^[17]

References

Citations

^ Chope, Richard (1912). Ballads Weird and Wonderful. New York: John Lane Company. pp. 8.
^ Thomas, Capt. F. W. L. (1855), "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1, pp. 86–89. Reprinted in Child (1886), II, p. 494 and Black (1901), County Folk-lore III, pp. 183–184.
^ Bruford (1974), p. 63.
^ Douglas, Sheila (2004). "Ballads and the Supernatural: Spells, Channs, Curses and Enchantments". Studies in Scottish Literature. 33 (1): 363.
^ ^a ^b ^c Freeman, A. Martin; Gilchrist, A. G. (January 1921). "Extra Note on Song No. 48, verse 7". Journal of the Folk-Song Society. 6 (2): 266 (263–266). JSTOR 4434091
^ Fergusson (1883), pp. 140–141; Fergusson (1884), pp. 242–244; latter cited in Freeman & Gilchrist (1921), p. 266
^ ^a ^b ^c McEntire (2007), p. 124.
^ ^a ^b Bronson, Bertrand Harris (1962). "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry". The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. Vol. 2. Princeton University Press. pp. 564–565. ISBN 9781400874828. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ Bold, Alan (2017) [1979], The Ballad, Routledge, pp. 44–45, ISBN 978-1-3153-8974-5
^ McEntire (2007), p. 128.
^ ^a ^b Bruford, Alan (1997), Narvez, Peter (ed.), "Trolls, Hillfolks, Finns and Picts", The Good People: New Fairylore Essays, University Press of Kentucky, pp. 121–123, ISBN 978-0-8131-0939-8
^ Dennison (1894), "The Play of de Lathie Odivere", pp. 54–58. Reprinted in Black (1901), County Folk-lore III, pp. 183–184.
^ Thomson, David (2010) [1954]. The People of the Sea, Edinburgh: Canongate Books., p. 212. ISBN 1847674593
^ Elektra Records Catalogue No EKS 7222
^ "When Worlds Collide, by Dave Bainbridge and Troy Donockley".
^ https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=br_4KJnxMkY&list=OLAK5uy_kETeGFo0rFg9TZD5hOZRwGPsdlq_AZps0&index=9
^ "Silkie of Sule Skerry - Derek Piotr Fieldwork Archive".

Lexicographical citations

^ "nuris". Dictionary of Scots Language. Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "ba". Scottish National Dictionary (1700–). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "lillie". Scottish National Dictionary (1700–). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "wean". Scottish National Dictionary (1700–). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "ken". A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "stap". A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700). Scottish Language Dictionaries. p. Definition 16. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "ane". The free dictionary. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "fit". Dictionary of Scots Language. Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
^ "grumly". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

Bibliography

Black, G. F. (1901), Thomas, Northcote W. (ed.), County Folk-lore, Publications of the Folk-Lore Society 49, vol. III, pp. 183–184, 235–248
Bruford, Alan (1974). "The Grey Selkie". Scottish Studies. 18: 63–81.
Child, Francis James, ed. (1886). "113 The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry". The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. II. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin. p. 494.
Dennison, W. Traill (1894). "The Play of de Lathie Odivere". The Scottish Antiquary, or, Northern Notes and Queries. 8: 54–58.
Fergusson, Robert Menzies (1883). "The Grey Selchie of Shool Skerry". Rambles in the Far North. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. pp. 140–141.
Fergusson, Robert Menzies (1884). "The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerrie". Rambles in the Far North (2nd ed.). London: Alex. Gardner. pp. 242–244.
McEntire, Nancy Cassell (2007). "Supernatural Beings in the Far North: Folklore, Folk Belief, and the Selkie". Scottish Studies. 35: 120–143. doi:10.2218/ss.v35.2692.

External links

History, and two variants at orkneyjar.com
Child version
Full original poem

[Chope-1] Chope, Richard (1912). Ballads Weird and Wonderful. New York: John Lane Company. pp. 8.

[capt_thomas-2] Thomas, Capt. F. W. L. (1855), "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1, pp. 86–89. Reprinted in Child (1886), II, p. 494 and Black (1901), County Folk-lore III, pp. 183–184.

[FOOTNOTEBruford197463-3] Bruford (1974), p. 63.

[13] Douglas, Sheila (2004). "Ballads and the Supernatural: Spells, Channs, Curses and Enchantments". Studies in Scottish Literature. 33 (1): 363.

[freeman&gilchrist-14] Freeman, A. Martin; Gilchrist, A. G. (January 1921). "Extra Note on Song No. 48, verse 7". Journal of the Folk-Song Society. 6 (2): 266 (263–266). JSTOR 4434091

[15] Fergusson (1883), pp. 140–141; Fergusson (1884), pp. 242–244; latter cited in Freeman & Gilchrist (1921), p. 266

[FOOTNOTEMcEntire2007124-16] McEntire (2007), p. 124.

[bronson1962-17] Bronson, Bertrand Harris (1962). "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry". The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. Vol. 2. Princeton University Press. pp. 564–565. ISBN 9781400874828. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[bold-18] Bold, Alan (2017) [1979], The Ballad, Routledge, pp. 44–45, ISBN 978-1-3153-8974-5

[FOOTNOTEMcEntire2007128-19] McEntire (2007), p. 128.

[bruford1997-20] Bruford, Alan (1997), Narvez, Peter (ed.), "Trolls, Hillfolks, Finns and Picts", The Good People: New Fairylore Essays, University Press of Kentucky, pp. 121–123, ISBN 978-0-8131-0939-8

[21] Dennison (1894), "The Play of de Lathie Odivere", pp. 54–58. Reprinted in Black (1901), County Folk-lore III, pp. 183–184.

[22] Thomson, David (2010) [1954]. The People of the Sea, Edinburgh: Canongate Books., p. 212. ISBN 1847674593

[23] Elektra Records Catalogue No EKS 7222

[24] "When Worlds Collide, by Dave Bainbridge and Troy Donockley".

[25] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch? v=br_4KJnxMkY&list=OLAK5uy_kETeGFo0rFg9TZD5hOZRwGPsdlq_AZps0&index=9

[26] "Silkie of Sule Skerry - Derek Piotr Fieldwork Archive".

[4] "nuris". Dictionary of Scots Language. Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[5] "ba". Scottish National Dictionary (1700–). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[6] "lillie". Scottish National Dictionary (1700–). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[7] "wean". Scottish National Dictionary (1700–). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[8] "ken". A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700). Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[9] "stap". A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700). Scottish Language Dictionaries. p. Definition 16. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[10] "ane". The free dictionary. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[11] "fit". Dictionary of Scots Language. Scottish Language Dictionaries. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[12] "grumly". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

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Francis James Child
The Child Ballads	Sir Aldingar Alison and Willie Allison Gross Andrew Lammie Archie o Cawfield Kinmont Willie Auld Matrons Babylon The Baffled Knight The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington Barbara Allen The Battle of Otterburn The Beggar-Laddie Adam Bell The Bent Sae Brown Bessy Bell and Mary Gray Blancheflour and Jollyflorice The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood Bonnie Annie The Bonnie Earl O' Moray Bonnie George Campbell Bonny Baby Livingston Bonny Bee Hom The Bonny Birdy The Bonny Hind The Bonnie House of Airlie The Bonny Lass of Anglesey Bonny Lizie Baillie The Boy and the Mantle Broom of the Cowdenknowes The Broomfield Hill Broughty Wa's Brown Adam The Brown Girl Brown Robin Brown Robyn's Confession Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane Burd Isabel and Earl Patrick Captain Ward and the Rainbow Captain Wedderburn's Courtship The Carnal and the Crane The Cherry-Tree Carol The Ballad of Chevy Chase Child Maurice Child Owlet Child Waters Christopher White Clerk Colvill Clerk Saunders The Clerk's Twa 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Whummil Bore The Wife of Usher's Well The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin Will Stewart and John Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter Willie and Lady Maisry Willie o Douglas Dale Willie o Winsbury Willie's Fatal Visit Willie's Lady Willie's Lyke-Wake The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie Young Andrew Young Beichan Young Benjie The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany Young Hunting Young Johnstone Young Peggy Young Ronald Young Waters
Operas	Il pesceballo
Related	List of the Child Ballads Percy Folio "The Crabfish"

Alison McMorland sings The Silkie of Sule Skerry
In Norway land there lived a maid, “Hush, baloo lilllie,” this maid began, “I know not whaur ma bairn’s faither is By land or sea does he travel in.”
It happened on a certain day When this fair maid lay fast asleep That in cam a grey silkie And sat him doon at her bed feet.
Saying, “Awak’ awak’ ma fair pretty maid For oh how sound as thou dost sleep, I’ll tell thee whaur yer bain’s faither is He’s lyin’ close at your bed feet.”
“I pray come tell tae me yer name And tell me whaur yer dwelling is?” “My name it is guid Hein Mailer I earn ma livin’ oot o the sea.
“I am a man upon the land, I am a silkie in the sea. An when I’m far fae every strand Ma dwelling t’is in Sule Skerry.”
“Alas, alas this woeful fate This weary fate that’s been laid on me, That a man should come frae the West o’ Hoy Tae the Noraway lands tae hae a bairn by me.”
He said, “Ye’ll nurse ma little wee son For seiven lang years upon yer knee, An at the end o’ seiven lang years I’ll come back again an pay the nouris fee.”
And she has nursed her little wee son For seiven lang years upon her knee, An at the end of seiven lang years He’s cam back again wi’ white monie.
He said, “I’ll pit a chain roon his neck An a gey gowd chain o it will be, An if ever he comes tae the Noraway lands Ye’ll hae a guid guess on who is he.”
And he said, “Ye’ll wed a gunner guid, And a gay guid gunner it will be, And he’ll gae oot on a May mornin He’ll shoot your son and the grey silkie.”
Oh she has wed a gunner guid And a gay guid gunner it was he, And he gaed oot on a May mornin He shot the son and the grey silkie.
“Alas, alas this woeful fate This weary fate that’s been laid on me,” She sobbed and sighed and bitter cried Her tender heart did brak in three.
Sandra and Nancy Kerr sing The Great Silkie	Maddy Prior sings Great Silkie of Sules Skerry
In Noroway there lived a maid, “Bye-loo my baby,” she begins, “Oh know not I my babe’s father Or if land or sea he’s living in.”	An earthly nourris sits and sings And aye she sings, “Ba lily wain And little ken I my bairn’s father Far less the land that he dwells in.”
Then there arose at her bedfeet, And a grummlie guest I’m sure was he, Saying, “Here am I thy babe’s father Although I be not comely.	Then one arose at her bedfoot, And a grumbly guest I’m sure was he, Saying, “ Here am I, thy bairn’s father Although I be not comely.
“I am a man upon the land, I am a silkie in the sea, But when I’m in my own coutrie My dwelling is in Sule Skerry.”	“I am a man upon the land, I am a silkie on the sea, And when I’m far and far frae land My home it is in Sules Skerry.”
Then he has taken a purse of gold And he has put it upon her knee, Saying, “Give to me my little wee son And take thee up thy nurse’s fee.	And he has ta’en a purse of gold And he has placed it upon her knee, Saying, “Give to me my little young son And take thee up thy nurse’s fee.
“And it shall pass on a summer’s day When the sun shines hot on every stone, That I shall take my little wee son And teach him for to swim in the foam.	“And it shall come tae pass on a summer’s day When the sun shines bright on every stone, I’ll come and fetch my little young son And teach him how to swim the foam.
“And you shall marry a gunner good, And a proud good gunner I’m sure he’ll be, And he’ll go out on a May morning And kill both my young son and me.”	“And you, you shall marry a pround gunner, And a proud gunner I’m sure he’ll be, But the very first shot that e’er he shoots He’ll kill both my young son and me.”
And she did marry a gunner good, And a proud good gunner I’m sure ’twas he, And the very first shot he ever did shoot He killed the son and the great silkie.
In Noroway there lived a maid, “Bye-loo my baby,” she begins, “Oh know not I my babe’s father Or if land or sea he’s living in.”
“I am a man upon the land, I am a silkie in the sea, And when I’m in my own coutrie My dwelling is in Sule Skerry.”

The Great Silkie of Sules Skerry

The Great Silkie

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