Twined By Your Cuts

The Original Story, The Seal Hunter

Not my work. This is the original story. Just to provide a bit of context.
from
https://www.storynory.com/the-seal-catcher/
&
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/tfm147.htm

Just the Original story!

There was once a man who lived not far from John O'Groat's house, at the very north of Scotland. He made his living by catching fish of all sizes and types, but he had a particular liking for killing those wonderful beasts, half-dog and half-fish, called Seals. he was particularly devoted to the killing of the seals, in which he had great success. No doubt he liked killing the seals so much because he got a fancy price for their skins. The truth is, that most of these animals were neither dogs nor cods, but downright fairies as this story shall tell.

Now one day the fisherman stabbed a seal with his hunting knife, but he failed to kill it outright, for the seal let out a loud cry of pain and slipped off the rocks and into the sea, taking the knife with it.

One evening just as he had returned home from his usual occupation, he was called upon by a man on horseback who was an utter stranger to him, who said that he was come on the part of a person who wished to make a large purchase of seal-skins from him, and wanted to see him for that purpose that very evening. He therefore desired him to get up behind him and come away without any delay. Urged by the hope of profit he consented, and away they went with such speed that the wind which was in their backs seemed to be in their faces. The man said that he had been sent by his master who wanted to buy a large number of seal furs. The fisherman was pleased to hear this news. The two men both mounted the stranger's horse, and rode off at great speed, their faces cutting through the sharp, salty air. Finally, they reached a great cliff that overhung the sea, and the stranger told the fisherman that they had arrived.

At length they reached the verge of a stupendous precipice overhanging the sea, where his guide bade him alight, as they were now at the end of their journey. "But where," says he, "is the person you spoke of?"

"You 'll see him presently," said the guide, and, catching hold of him, he plunged with him into the sea. They went down and down, and because that stranger seized the fisherman with irresistible force, and they both plunged over the cliff and headlong down into the sea. After sinking down and down (nobody knows how far), they at last reached a pearly gate which opened onto a palace. The rooms of the palace were filled not with people, but with seals who could speak and feel like human folk. The seal-killer was astonished to find that he himself had been changed into the form of a seal.

Till at last they came to a door which led into a range of apartments inhabited by seals, they seemed all in low spirits, but they spoke kindly to him, and assured him of his safety. They seemed all in low spirits, but they spoke kindly to him, and assured him of his safety. His guide now produced a huge gully or joctaleg, at sight of which, thinking his life was to be taken away, he began to cry for mercy.

"Did you ever see this knife before?" said the guide. He looked at it and saw it was his own, which he had that very day stuck into a seal who had made his escape with it sticking in him. He did not, therefore, attempt to deny that it had been his property.

"Why it is my own," he admitted.

"Well," said. the guide, "that seal was my father. He now lies dangerously ill, and as it is only you that can cure him, I have brought you hither." He then led him into an inner room, where the old seal lay suffering grievously from a cut in his hind quarters. He was then desired to lay his hand on the wound, at which it instantly healed, and the patient arose hale and sound.

All now was joy and festivity in the abode of the seals, and the guide, turning to the seal-hunter, said, The seal-catcher thought that he would remain under water as a seal for the rest of his life, but the stranger told him that he could return home on one condition – that he took an oath that he would never harm another seal again so long as he lived. To this, the seal-catcher readily agreed.

"I will now take you back to your family, but you must first take a solemn oath never again to kill a seal as long as you live." Hard as the condition was, he cheerfully accepted it. His guide then laid hold on him, and they rose up, up, till they reached the surface of the sea, and landed at the cliff. He breathed on him, and they resumed the human form. They then mounted the horse and sped away like lightning till they reached the fisherman's house.

They then swam out of the gates of the palace, and up to the surface of the sea. From there they made their way onto land, and up to the top of the cliff where the horse was waiting for them. By now they had regained human form, and they rode back to the cottage where they had begun their wondrous journey. The seal-catcher had already begun to wonder how he would make his living in the future, but he need not have worried – for the stranger made him a gift. He presented him with a heavy bag which he carried into his cottage and placed on the table. When he opened it, he discovered that it was filled with gold. The seal-hunter kept his promise and never hunted a seal again.