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.
You'd think none of the rest of us ever had a calf before.
The old ones cackled on the rocks as they watched Solanna the Elder flick the baby seal with her nose.
They were only jealous because the bull seals no longer fought over them.
They spat fishbones at the other seals and hit out with their weak old feet.
Solanna the Elder didn't even notice them.
All day and night she spent her time minding Solanna the Younger
suckling her, finding her the softest pieces of crab, and the sweetest seagrasses to eat
and mackerel that wriggled between her teeth as she fed them to the young calf.
At night in the caves, Solanna the Elder spread out on a wide ledge with Solanna the Younger underneath her.
Sometimes a mermaid or two would come to admire the baby seal and sing her lullabies in the dark hushed cave
and when the mermaids didn't come, Solanna the Elder would sing her calf to sleep
for seals have very fine singing voices.