Лучшие сказки загадочной Шотландии. Уровень 1 / The Best Tales of Enchanted Scotland

When the guide returned he held a huge knife in his hand.

“Have you ever seen this before?” he asked.

He showed the knife to the unfortunate seal catcher. The seal catcher recognised his own knife. With that knife he wanted to kill the seal in the morning.

The hunter begged for mercy. He was afraid of the inhabitants of the cavern. Do they want to wreak their vengeance upon him?

But they crowded round him. They rubbed their soft noses against his fur. They showed their sympathy.

“Don't be afraid,” they said.

“We will do you no harm. We will love you. But do what we ask you.”

“Tell me what it is,” said the seal catcher, “and I will do it.”

“Follow me,” answered his guide.

He went to the door. The seal catcher followed him. And there, in a smaller room, he found a great brown seal on a bed of pale pink sea-weed. The seal had a wound in his side.

“That is my father,” said his guide, “whom you wounded this morning. I brought you hither to bind up his wounds.

Only you can heal him.”

“I can't heal,” said the seal catcher. He was very astonished. “But I will try to bind up the wound. I am very sorry for that.”

He went over to the bed. He stooped over the wounded Merman. He washed and dressed the wound. His hands worked very well. The wound deadened and died. The old seal sprang up, as well as ever[14 - as well as ever – как ни в чём не бывало].

The seals in the Palace of the Seals were very glad. They laughed, talked and embraced each other.

They crowded round their comrade, and rubbed their noses against his. They were very delighted at his recovery.

The seal catcher stood alone in a corner. His mind was filled with dark thoughts. He did not want to spend his life in the guise of a seal, deep under the ocean.

But then, to his great joy, his guide approached him, and said,

“Now you may return home to your wife and children. I will take you to them. But you have to promise me something.”

“What is that?” asked the seal catcher eagerly.

“Promise me that you will never wound a seal again.”

“I will gladly do that!” he replied.

All the seals gathered round him to listen to him. They were all very happy to hear it. He was the most famous seal catcher in the North.

Then he passed once more through the outer doors of coral, and up, and up, and up, through the shadowy green water. At last he and his guide entered the sunshine of earth.