E9N. Fairy wife - aquatic mammal. .16.20.24.31.37.

A man takes as his wife a female seal, a harbour seal or a dolphin, who has taken the form of a woman, and lives with her among people.

Scots, Ulithi, Yap, Losap, Ponape, Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Faroese, Icelanders, Ulchi, Nivkh.

Western Europe. Scots : Klyagina-Kondratieva 1967 (Hebrides) [the sea king's wife died, he took a new one - a sea witch, who turned the children of the first wife into seals; once a year they took human form; the fisherman McCodran hid the skin of one of the girls, she had to agree to become his wife; during a storm she found the skin, put it on, and swam away; McCodram's descendants never hunted seals]: 229-235 (=Kharitonov 2008: 458-462); Loseva et al. 1959 (Orkney Islands) [on Midsummer Eve, fishermen saw dancing people, seal skins nearby; a man hid one, took a seal girl as his wife; they have a child; one day she found a skin and swam away]: 62-65; Williamson, Duncan. Tales of the Seal People . Edinburgh: Canongate Classics, 1992 (Duncan Bell, Minard, Lochfyneside, 1942) [two unmarried brothers live on a farm, the younger loves seals, marries a seal woman, is lost at sea in a storm; the elder was jealous of the younger because he had a wife, hates seals, refuses to look for his brother, treats the widow badly; she gives birth to a daughter and disappears without a trace; the elder brother tells the girl that evil seals have kidnapped her parents, but she continues to play with the seals; in a fit of rage at night, the elder chops off the girl's hands, which begin to turn into flippers so that she cannot swim; the seals take revenge by biting off his fingers while he is out in a boat; he returns to the farm, the girl is not there, he leaves; the younger brother with his wife and children return in the form of seals; the girl's right flipper has healed, but the scar remains]: 47-59 in Shaw 2012.

Micronesia – Polynesia. Ulithi (Western Carolines) [every night two dolphins leave their tails under a palm tree, turn into girls, go to a dance; a man who collected juice from these palms for home brew hid one of the tails, took the girl as his wife; she gave birth to a son and a daughter, found her tail, told her daughter that she and her brother should not eat dolphins, swam away]: Lessa 1961, no. 6: 38-39; Palau [Akapekemek left vessels tied to palm trees at night, collecting juice in them; someone empties the vessels; he watches, a fish-woman comes out of the water, leaves her tail, climbs the palm tree; A. takes the tail; the next day he sees a naked woman under the palm tree, she asks for a skirt; he gives it, takes the woman as his wife, they have a beautiful daughter; mother sends her to fetch a pestle, she accidentally finds a fish's tail, swims away; sea-woman's grandson, Athmolokoth, grows up, fishes, loses his hook, goes into the sea to get it; his grandmother swallows him, he returns it; Frazer and Frobenius relate different parts of the text with different detail]: Kubary, vol.1: 60-65 in Frazer 1924: 263-264 and Frobenius 1904: 263-264; Yap [Tholoor sees two dolphins take off their tails, become girls, go to watch a dance; T. finds one of the tails in the sand, brings home; marries, wife bears two daughters; finds his tail, swims away into the sea; her daughters are the ancestors of the dolphin race; (cited in Lessa 1961: 142-143)]: Müller 1918, no. 76: 618-619; Losap (Carolina, Truk County) [chief's son was in a boat with others, was liked by dolphin girls, they pushed him into the water, his companions did not notice; the youth went under the water onto an island; dolphins came to bathe in a freshwater pond, took off their skins, turned into girls; the youth hid the skin of the most beautiful one; the others swam away; the youth explained who he was, the girl said that she was the one who pushed him out of the boat; hides under mats; shows to others after they promise not to harm him; they spent time with him in turns; he taught them how to cook food, not to eat raw; when the turn came to the first girl, the youth said he wanted to go home; they took him to Losap, giving him a means of reviving dead whales (whales or dolphins – it is not clear from the story)]: Mitchell 1973, No. 70: 203-206; Ponape , Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands [ one young man is rubbed with especially good coconut oil by his grandmother; when dolphins swim ashore, one dolphin swims to this particular young man, tells him to drag him home, cover him with mats and not look; turns into a girl; the grandmother tells her grandson to take the girl to the meeting house, but she refuses; eventually she is recognized as his wife; her descendants are not to hunt dolphins or eat dolphin meat]: Koch 1966: 46-47; Taumako[dolphin girls leave their dolphin skins, come to the dance; one young man spied, hid the skin, the dolphin had to become his wife; one day he scolded her, she cried, started looking for her skin, found it where her husband kept his feather money, put it on, swam away]: Hovdhaugen, Næss 2006: 124.

Malaysia - Indonesia. Mentawai ["dolphin girl" motif]: Morris 1900: 57-65, 65-77 in Lessa 1961: 166; Kai Islands [a palm sap tapper (to make wine) noticed two men working in a field; at dawn one told the other that the sun was rising and it was time to go back; one put on a whale skin, the other a dolphin skin, both disappeared into the sea; next time seven women came with them; the sap tapper fell in love with the youngest, noticed where she left her fish clothes, the next morning hid the clothes, the girl had to become his wife; they have a son; the other children tease him for being a glutton; he complains to his mother, the mother reproaches the father, he pays no attention; in a cup of water the woman sees the reflection of her fish clothes, hidden under the roof; leaves a precious stone for her son in a bowl under the rice; says that she herself will go to work in the field; if the son finds something under the rice, he will see her again, and if not, he will not see her; puts on fish clothes, hides in the sea; having learned what happened, the husband, taking his son, sails in a boat; they successively ask four fishes if they have seen a woman; two answer that they have not seen one, they are given bad nuts and leaves, and the other two show the way, receive the best nuts and leaves; the man sends an old man (-fish?) to the fishes to ask his wife to come back; she misses him and returns happily; the man tells the other children not to tease his son anymore]: Kratz 1973, No. 61: 161-166.

Baltoscandia. Faroese [a man watched a female seal come ashore, take off her skin, become a girl; he hid the skin, took the girl as his wife; they have children; one day she found the skin, put it on, became a she-seal, returned to the sea]: Clouston 1887: 182-183; Icelanders [a man approached a cave; the voices of people dancing could be heard from inside, and seal skins were in front of the entrance; he took one and hid it in a chest at home; when he returned to the cave, he saw a naked girl, she was crying; the man gave her clothes and brought her to him; they have many children; one day he went fishing, leaving the key to the chest under his pillow (or left it in his pocket); when he returned, the chest was unlocked, but his wife was gone; as she was leaving, the woman said to the children: I have 7 children at the bottom of the sea and 7 here; after this the man often saw a female seal swimming behind the boat, tears streaming from her eyes; his luck deserted him; and when the children approached the shore, the mother threw fish and shells out of the water for them]: Avenstrup, Treitel 1919: 258-259.

Amur - Sakhalin. Ulchi [a guy lives alone; a girl comes in, runs the place, he is embarrassed; she flies away; he goes to look for her; an old woman tries unsuccessfully to kill him; an evil spirit brings a woman in its claws to a tree, the guy seriously wounds him, takes the woman as his wife; he goes further; by the sea seven seals shed their appearance, the guy grabs one, takes him as his wife; she says that her parents want the heart of the evil spirit; its mouth is like a lake; the guy asks it to open, jumps into it, inserts a sharpened tree trunk, cuts it off, brings the heart; the Seal wife teaches how to defeat another spirit; one must drink her own vodka, not his; the spirit drinks his vodka, two of his three heads fall off; the guy finishes him off; takes his people away; lives with two wives; his name is Baturi (hero)]: Sunik 1985, no. 7: 136-143; Nivkhs: Kreynovich 1929 [a Nivkh man pulled out a seal, it turns into a woman; its mother died in the sea, it leaves; it tells the teal to drink the sea; in the morning, holding hands, two suns rise; the sea man asks the Nivkh man not to break the universe; it tells the teal to vomit water; again only one sun rises, the wife returns]: 88-89 (reprinted in Ostrovsky 1997, no. 28: 227); Pevnov 2010, no. 2 [the elder brother has a wife; he tells her to wash and comb the younger brother every morning, and air his clothes; the elder brother's wife thinks of making the younger her husband; one day the younger man dressed himself, went out to the sea, saw a seal, it took off its skin, became a woman, they got together; the seal woman promised to swim back tomorrow, bringing tables and dishes to taste the elk meat; the younger brother returned, the elder and his wife did not question him; in the morning the elder's wife put on the younger brother's clothes, went along his ski track, and hid herself, burying herself in the sand; the seal is afraid, the woman tells her to come out, as agreed; throws a harpoon at her; they fight for a long time, the line breaks, the wounded seal goes out to sea, tells her to tell her husband's brother not to pursue her; at home the young man understood everything, went to the shore, overheard the conversation of the seal wife's two younger sisters, who came to the house made of shavings; he cut out a figurine, swam on it, then shot an arrow, flew on it, so he shot arrows and flew on each, reached another land; There the wife's sisters and other seals in the form of people say that a man from the earth wounded the elder's daughter, they prepare spears and arrows, watch for him; he asks the servant where his jaw harp is (by the window behind the pillow), asks other questions; having learned everything, he shook it out of the skin, put it on, came to his seal-wife; local shamans are performing their shamanism there; the imaginary servant asked to give him a shamanism, pulled the spear out of the wounded woman's chest, now the seal will marry him; the young man returned, returned the skin to the servant, he came to life; he told the seal's grandfather and grandmother that it was not he who wounded her, but his brother's wife, and he cured her; the seal's uncles, a bear and a walrus, watch for him on the shore, but he gave them a fish each, they called him son-in-law; he flies back on an arrow; there the one who turned into a walrus growls, the lower lip drags along the ground, the upper one reaches the sky, there is fire in his mouth; the young man jumped into his mouth, began to cut from the inside, he let him go; in the form of a man he went with him, brought him to the bear, the young man jumped into his mouth (all the same); those two seal girls go with him (younger sisters of the first seal?); at home he made his brother take his wife by the leg, he himself took the other, they tore her apart; he took one seal girl as a wife, gave the other to his brother]: 16-25; Sangi 1989 [=Medvedev 1992: 85-92; the sister and brother grow up alone; the brother sees how two seals take off their clothes (scales), turn into girls, wash themselves; he hides their clothes, gives to one only after she agrees to become his wife; the sister tries to kill the seal with a spear, wounds her; she swims away, tells her to marry her brother herself; she braids her hair like a woman; the brother goes to the sea,Two seal girls tell him the words of their elder sister (his wife) to make a loon bowl out of wood; they carry him to sea in it; two long-haired women catch him, tickle him; he calls thunder, they kill them; a sea lion brings him to the island; a slave shows the way; the young man puts on the clothes of a slave; turning into a water flea, he jumps over two wolves and two bears blocking the way; shamans try to heal the wounded seal; the young man revives her, takes her home; his sister is barely alive there; he is a successful hunter]: 395-402; Ulita 2011 [when the father returned from hunting, the little son said that the mother changed into her husband's clothes, came to the shore, a seal swam there, the mother stuck a spear into her, the seal broke free with difficulty and swam away; The husband killed his wife, threw her head into the fire, turned himself into a crow, and made his son into a birdmavzur (the size of a jay, screams at night and scares people), flew to the house following a bloody trail, became a man again, in the house there was a wounded woman who was turning into a seal (the wife found out about her mistress, tried to kill her); the man cured her, made her his wife]: 36-37.