[Intro: Spoken Word, Cold Wind, Distant Waves, Creaking Wood, Raspy Wit] Well, hello come to join me by the pier for a little fishing I’ll have a seat. Let me pour you a cup of coffee to warm you from the morning chill as we watched the waves and fish upon the Hill. The sea weeps and it cries below its death a father eyes views with anger and with teeth watch below what has beneath ha ha ha ha [Verse 1: Mournful Violin Waltz, Harp Dripping, Low Choir] In Fisher's Town where the nets lie rotten, Came a girl from the foam, with seal-skin cotton. Not quite woman, not quite seal, Bare feet that never seemed to heal. She left her coat upon a stone, To walk where men make love alone. [Verse 2: Cello Waltz, Bodhran ONE-two-three, Music Box Creepy] A Prince there was, not born of crown, But fisherman's son, strongest in town. He saw her hair like kelp in tide, Said "Girl, you come from far and wide?" She fell in love, as Selkies do, Hard and hopeless, and all too true. "Hide my skin," she whispered low, "And I will never, ever go." [Chorus: Dark Waltz Swell, Choir Ooo, Pipe Organ, Tragedy] She danced for him a fisher's waltz, One-two-three on salt and malt, One-two-three where gulls do cry, She learned to laugh, she learned to lie like human. [Bridge: Music Drops, Only Waves & Storyteller Whisper, Then Horror Strings] But then a child, a fisherman's boy, Went in the surf to find a toy. The tide took him. As tides do. No Selkie hand, no foul play - just blue. But Fisher's Town needs someone to blame, And stranger girls are easy shame. "Witch! Selkie! She called the sea!" "The sea-wife stole our boy from thee!" [Verse 3: Heavy, Angry Waltz, Drums Like Stoning, French Horns Low] They dragged her where she loved the most, Down to the shingle, to the coast. No Prince could save her, Prince was gone, At market, selling what they'd won. They held her under - oh, they held her under - The water she loved, filled with thunder. Her seal-skin gone, she could not swim, They watched the bubbles, watched them dim. Murdered by the very sea she adored. Murdered by the town she implored. [Breakdown: Dead Silence, Then Deep Father Voice, Foghorn, Ocean Roars] But Selkies have fathers. Oh yes. Fathers with beards of living kelp. Fathers who wear crowns of bone. Her father answers not to man, He answers only to one - Neptune, Sea King. [Chorus 2: Apocalypse Waltz, Full Orchestra, Choir Screams, Waves Devouring] Beware! Beware! The father rose! One-two-three and over it goes! The tide stood up like a wall of night! One-two-three, no boat, no light! He did not take one life for one, He took them all - every mother's son. The pier, the church, the Fisher's Town, The Prince, the nets - all swallowed down. The sea devoured all things, my friend, As seas are wont to do in the end. It does not hate. It does not grieve. It only takes, and does not leave. [Outro: Back To Garden, Soaking Wet Violin, Harp Dripping, Storyteller Right Beside You] Oh... You are writing very fast now, I see. You think this tale is about a Selkie? Hah. No, my friend . It is about what men do when they fear what they love. The sea is still out there, you know. And Neptune... Neptune keeps excellent books. Now... you best get off that stump. Tide's coming in. (hahaha... hee... but lower... slower...)
