I'm sure you must have heard about mermaids.They are women who are half human and half fish. Of course, they live deep in the ocean and are hidden from humans. Rarely, if ever, they swim to the surface and chances are very low that you will see these fairy tale beauties.

Another fairy tale people are the selkies. These are my personal favourite. They can take the form of a human or a seal. Their form under water is a seal. When they change to humans, the seal skin is left. Without their seal skin, they can't return to the ocean. Some humans (usually men) steal the seal skin of a selkie woman so the unfortunate selkie must go with them and try to get it back. In most of the stories, the man marries the selkie and she forgets about her life in the sea, but he often sees his wife gazing out to the ocean. The husband has the seal skin hidden, but in the end his wife will find it. Then she returns to the ocean. The selkie will always watch over her family, even though they may never see her again. Selkie men don't get taken against their will. Most times, they seduce human women. This usually leads to sexual intercourse. Sometimes the selkies will take some of their family members with them to the sea.

Merrows are another people living underwater. They have webbed fingers and have scaly bodies. They also have magic caps that allow them to breathe underwater. Again, if someone takes their cap away, they can't return to their home;they must retrieve their caps if they should return to the ocean. Men steal the merrows' caps to force them to become their wives.Don't try to steal their caps! Merrows who were taken from the ocean will eventually find their caps. Unlike the selkie, the merrow does not feel compassion for her family on land.

To learn more about Merrows, click here.

If you want to know more about selkies and other Celtic fairy tale creatures, read The Hidden World by Alison Baird. Like I said, who knows if they're real or not?

Don't let nature die!!