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Once, and not too long ago at all, a great grey seal called Solanna gave birth to a girl calf seal. She named her Solanna the Younger, and no seal was ever so proud of its calf.

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You'd think none of the rest of us ever had a calf before.

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The old ones cackled on the rocks as they watched Solanna the Elder flick the baby seal with her nose.

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They were only jealous because the bull seals no longer fought over them.

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They spat fishbones at the other seals and hit out with their weak old feet.

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Solanna the Elder didn't even notice them.

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All day and night she spent her time minding Solanna the Younger

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suckling her, finding her the softest pieces of crab, and the sweetest seagrasses to eat

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and mackerel that wriggled between her teeth as she fed them to the young calf.

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At night in the caves, Solanna the Elder spread out on a wide ledge with Solanna the Younger underneath her.

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Sometimes a mermaid or two would come to admire the baby seal and sing her lullabies in the dark hushed cave

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and when the mermaids didn't come, Solanna the Elder would sing her calf to sleep

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for seals have very fine singing voices.