The Seal Woman - A Legend Retold

I encountered the Faroese legend of seal women in the Toronto Reference Library's rare book stacks. While I copied poems from a Faroese anthology, Jane flipped through a book called The Farthest Shore.  Turning the pages, she described the tales of unmarried suicides who lured men to sea from the safety of the shore.

Published to inspire and inform travellers to the islands, The Farthest Shore has two distinct parts. Jørgan-Frantz Jacobsen introduces the Faroe Islands with the poetic and tragic legend of the seal woman. The legend was just one of many handed down by oral tradition and placed into the written form by one of the Faroe's greatest writers. In the second half, Niels Elkaer-Hansen describes the culture and customs of early 20th century Faroe. A boat buoyed below a bird cliff illustrates the cover and is one of many of Ib Spang Olsen’s pencil illustrations in the book.

While Hansen informed, Jacobsen inspired. Tucked inside Jacobsen’s essay was a poetic backdrop that fused the Faroese storytelling tradition with the people, the place, and the legends of the islands. In the poetic tale, Jacobsen informed travellers in a way no travel guide could. Beyond the dates, names and places, and beyond the monetary, political and legal customs imported from the Danish Crown, were the beliefs of the fledgling dependency and the lifeblood of their threatened language. With this infused spirit, Jacobsen lured readers from the safety of their homes to the inhospitable islands at the edge of the world.

Legends of creatures that swim in the sea and live in the hills abound in the Faroese tradition of storytelling. Heðin Brú and other notable writers from the mid 20th century wrote in the midst of a modernizing Faroe, fusing folk legend and modern elements into their works. But are the storytelling traditions and legends still incorporated into Faroese literature today? Are the legends still important?

The Seal Woman - a legend retold and explored is a reflection on the spoken language before the written word and the growth of the Faroese literary form. Authors, Enna Garðshorn Mikkelsen and Elsa Heinesen, explore how early islanders experienced the seal woman legend long before modern writers put it to paper in the 19th century. They go on to explain why oral legends and storytelling are still meaningful to the Faroese today.

The Seal Woman is available in print from Sprotin in both English and Faroese.