With my children grown and independent I am able to ask the question, “What’s next?”  Tied to that answer is the other question, “What do I want ?”  This question has led me to ponder the inevitable question, “What do women want?’ This query has been asked for ages by pleading bewildered men with arms open to the sky.

Chris Rock answers it, “Women want everything and the way they get it is to get someone to give it to them…”  Funny. www.chrisrock.com/

The television show Mad Men says, “Women want what men tell them they want.” Sinister.  www.madmenepisodes.com- what do women want?

But how do women answer this question? In the beautiful and ambiguous selkie story,  “Woman of the Sea,” a woman asks and answers it in a way that bespeaks of how women often feel.  In order to be oneself, we have to be in two worlds- one above and one below.  One of our own choosing and one of others making.

Here are some links to selkie stories you may find interesting.

• The Selkie Folk, from Orkneyjar, “a website dedicated to the preserving, exploring and documenting the ancient history, folklore and traditions of Orkney.”
• The Legend of the Seal Woman, from Tjatsi, “a Faroese website describing the stories behind the Faroese stamps.”
• Annotated Selkie resources from Mermaids on the Web
• The Origin of the Selkie Folk from Orkneyjar
• A Home for Selkies by Beth Winegarner
• Legend of the Selkie Soldier
• Some pictures from the play “Kópakonan” (the Seal-Wife”, which was performed by children at the Theater in Thorshavn in May 2001
• The Seal’s Skin. Icelandic Folktale
• A Sea Story by Ina. Short stories based on based on Celtic and Norse mythology
• The First Silkie by William Meikle, read on the Celtic Myth Podshow
•   How do you answer this question? What do you want?