Great Bear Wilderness We get to carry each other

"What happened after that?" Osprey asked, feeling that the story was left hanging in the air. Her best guess was that Burke probably got cold feet and gave the skin back to the girl, though it might also be that he ran off with it and left the poor girl at the altar. 

After hearing, what the groom-to-be had to say about the matter, she recalled an old fairy-tale, which sounded very like the situation he had encountered. "I remember a tale about the seal-folk, who would come to the earth from the water and leave their seal-skins hidden, while they walked as people among people. And then, when the time would come, they would pick up their skins and turn into seals again. If one's pelt got stolen or lost, he or she would be doomed to walk the earth forever."