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He spent all his time at the shore
as his mother had before him

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and the seal maiden would look out 
at him from the cottage

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and be afraid that something beyond her 
power was going to take him from her.

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And something did.

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It was on a hot afternoon 
and the seal maiden lay asleep.

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The boy played on the floor 
beside her for a while

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and then, growing bored, began to search 
under the seal maiden's bed

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for some new thing to entertain him.

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First, he only found seashells 
and an old fishing net.

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He played with these for a while,

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pretending he was some beautiful fish 
trapped in a web at the bottom of the sea.

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He wriggled and rolled in the net 
right under his mother's bed

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until a sack fell out 
from the boards of the bed.

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Of course he opened it

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and found a white skin 
of the softest thread and skin.

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He wasn't surprised at finding it. 
It seemed familiar.

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And when he put it on, it fitted perfectly.

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And when he looked at himself 
in his mother's looking glass,

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for the first time he recognised himself.

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"So this is who I really am!" the boy said,

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smiling at the white seal 
who smiled back at him.

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And as every creature will 
sooner or later obey its nature,

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the seal boy obeyed his 
and ran for the waves.

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The seal maiden woke with a cry on her lips, 
saw the empty sack on the bed beside her,

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and raced to the shore

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just in time to see the 
sleek, white neck of her son

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dive beneath a high, grey wave.

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When Red Brian came in 
from the sea that evening,

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and the seal maiden told him the boy 
had disappeared into the waves,

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Red Brian keeled over in a faint.

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He woke sobbing three hours later.

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The seal maiden tried to comfort him,

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told him the boy wasn't lost, 
had only discovered his sealskin,

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and made away with it 
into the wide, cold sea.

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Red Brian told her to stop raving. 
The boy was lost, drowned.

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A seven year old child could 
not fight those Atlantic breakers.

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They both walked out to the shore,
Red Brian looking for the body of his son,

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the seal maiden straining 
for a glimpse of wet, white fur.

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Neither saw any sign of him.

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Things were quiet in 
that house for a long time.

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Then, something marvelous happened.

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It was one of those nights 
where the moon has the sky to herself

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and she highsteps across it
to some inaudible moon music.