Spared to the Sea

More than a decade passed since Lucy Bellerose, the youngest daughter of Nicolas Bellerose, found out the truth about her mother. Her father passed away only one year after this discovery and she spent the remainder of her childhood with her siblings and her Aunt Zoé, with whom she grew very close.

She made peace with her mother's absence and her father's death. She focused her energy on other relationships in her family rather than dwelling on the tragedy surrounding her parents. She not only grew closer to Zoé but her brothers and sisters as well. She grew exceptionally closest to her sibling closest in age to her - her sister Adelle.

The now fourteen-year-old Lucy was out with her sister Adelle, now sixteen, looking for seashells at the very beach where their father saw their mother for the first time. Adelle was busy looking for bait for her brothers to go fishing with. When Adelle filled her bucket up with bait, she decided that she too wanted to start looking for seashells with Lucy. The tide was still low, so the two were able to safely cross the trink and look for seashells that were washed up by the high tide.

That's when they stumbled upon two selkies, a mother and child, in their seal form. They were sobbing loudly and the girls saw that the child was stuck on the rocks from when the high tide was there.

Lucy immediately rushed towards the seal, picking the baby up, wanting to save it. "Oh my gosh, this seal is so adorable! We should take them home with us!" exclaimed Lucy.

The mother seal was in clear distress and that's when Adelle made the connection. These were no ordinary seals, these were selkies.

"Lucy, I don't think that's an ordinary seal," Adelle said wearily. "I think you should return the pup to the mother."

Lucy's eyes went wide. All it took was Adelle's subtle hint to remember the stories her Aunt Zoé told her about her own mother. Lucy nodded to Adelle and gave the pup back to the mother. Adelle gathered her bait, Lucy gathered her seashells, and the two made their way home.

Fifteen years later, Lucy was married with children of her own, four to be exact. She remained in her hometown of Brittany, France.

On a nice and sunny day, her three youngest - Lorraine, Marie, Edmond - went to the beach to look for seashells. They all knew they were not to cross the trink because the water swept in quickly on the high tides. But they heard their mother talk of the beautiful seashells she found there as a child. After a brief discussion, they decided to cross over.

"I don't think this is a great idea," pleaded Lorraine, the youngest of the three.

"We won't stay long," said Marie, the eldest.

"We'll hurry back," agreed her brother Edmond.

The trio spent too much time on the other side of the trink looking for seashells and the tide rose while they were immersed in the rocks, the water began rising steadily.

The sisters began to panic but Edmond remained calm and began to hear singing. He was drawn to it and begins making his way towards the noise.

"Where are you going, Edmond?!" asked Lorraine

He ignored her and made his way through some of the rocks where he found two selkies, but in human form, the younger one was balancing a bucket of seashells on her head gracefully.

Edmond was entranced by the women and rushed away from his sisters to speak with them.

"Edmond!" shouted Marie. Frustration overcame their fear and they followed after him.

The selkies were gracious and guided the children to the points that were shallow so they could safely walk through. The younger one kept the bucket balanced the whole time and even shared some of her seashells with them.

Once they made it safely to the shore, the older woman looked at them intensely. "Now send a word from me to your mother," said the older of the two selkies, "when telling her about what happened today, ask her about that day she went looking for seashells herself fifteen summers past. And tell her, one spared to the sea is three spared to the land."

The elder had them repeat the message until they got it right.

"One spared to the sea is three spared to the land," the three said in unison.

"Good, now run on home, little ones, and do not cross the trink again! This is the only time I will be here to help."

She gently pushes them and they obediently listen and run home, but when they look back they see that the tide is now far above the rocks, still pouring through the trink.

"Where did the women go?" asked Marie.

"I'm not sure..." answered Edmond, baffled by their disappearance. When they looked back the women were not to be seen but instead, they saw two seals swimming away.

Author's Note:

We pick up the story of the Bellerose family with Lucy Bellerose, the youngest of Nicolas Bellerose.

I adapted this story based on a selkie tale titled "One Spared to the Sea," which has a very similar premise except the main character is a man and when he runs into the selkie in the original tale he is by himself and looking for bait. He returns the pup seal back to the mother and nine years later that selkie mother spares his children because he spared hers. What I really liked about this story, in particular, is that it takes the common trope of abducting a selkie or a mermaid and goes entirely against it, rewarding the man for acting with morality.

I wanted to make the main character Lucy in this retelling to not only fit this story into the overarching narrative I have created with the family in my storybook, but to give an epilogue of sorts. While Lucy's mother abandoned her and her father died early in her childhood, she did not lead a life without love and meaningful connection. The same goes for the other Bellerose family members.

I also incorporated a small aspect of the curse into this story through Edmond. However, the curse manifests in the form of curiosity rather than blinding lust and desire, a much more innocent and appropriate form because Edmond is still merely a child. The curse actually saves the children in my retelling and ends the story on a happy note. This story serves as a happy ending to the torment that the Bellerose family has suffered due to the curse cast upon them by Jean-Luc's doing.

The picture chosen as the header of this page is supposed to represent full-grown Lucy looking out to the sea and thinking about her mother.

Picture Information:

"Miranda" by John William Waterhouse (1875), Web Source.

Bibliography:

"One Spared to The Sea," by Sigurd Towrie. Web Source.