Selkie Curled in the Tidal Cove

A selkie lies curled around a green islet, its dark teal coat dotted with cream spots and its face turned toward us with rosy cheeks and wide dark eyes. One teal flipper holds a billowing golden cloth with pink and blue dots. Tiny people are everywhere: someone hangs washing on a line across its back, two spread a net over the head, three build a sandcastle on its side, and a ladder leans against its flank. Others wash cloth in a pool and row small boats. Stone-edged channels, wooden footbridges, seaweed racks and lily pads fill the cove, with coral and shells at the edges. The spots on its coat and the water channels around it mark out the picture in tidy sections.