If yes, are you a good swimmer?
If yes to both, have a good look in the mirror before reading on...
Quote from an information panel on the Isle of Berneray:
- Seals figure large in Gaelic folklore, being said to shed their skins when they come ashore, to become humans for a time. Many stories recount how a man stole a seal woman's skin so that he could force her to become his wife. Tradition maintains that the MacCoddrums of North Uist were descended from such a union.
The almost illegible white text in the top of the faded picture says that Grey seals have a "roman nose" and common seals have a more dog-like appearance.
Quote from an information panel at Balranald Bird Reserve on the Isle of North Uist:
- Until recent times, people living on the islands, as elsewhere, were much more self-sufficient, making use of the natural resources around them. As well as growing crops and raising animals, fish and seals were harvested and wild plants were used in cookery and medecine. Seal skin was used for horse harnesses and oil for the lighting. One family who would never kill seal or eat seal flesh were the MacCodrums. John MacCodrum the renowned Gaeilc bard, was born at Ard an Rùnair in the 18th Century. Legend has it that the MacCodrums were descended from the seal people who gained human form at the full moon.
All the best,
AndrewP
