Rowan & Pine: A Feminist Folklore & Mythology Podcast - September 17, 2025


Pine Cones： Finfolk ｜ Rowan & Pine Shorts

Episode Forty-Seven： Selkies (collab with It Came From The Maritimes) - weird uncle stories Pine Cones： Sedna ｜ Rowan & Pine Shorts

Episode Stats


Length

18 minutes

Words per minute

138.9

Word count

2,599

Sentence count

127

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

19

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.040 Twilight arrives on an Orkney shore. In the space between land and sea the
00:00:19.200 Finn folk are said to slip silently from their hidden kingdom seeking humans to 1.00
00:00:24.480 drag below the waves. 0.99
00:00:33.900 The Orkney Islands have been home to humans for at least 8,500 years. First Mesolithic
00:00:40.600 and Neolithic peoples, then the Picts and later the Norse, who settled there in 875.
00:00:47.800 Orkney remained under Norwegian rule until 1472, when it became part of Scotland, in
00:00:53.720 a royal dowry dispute. Today, over 70 islands stretch across the North Sea, with the mainland
00:01:00.960 at the centre and the rest divided into the North and South Isles.
00:01:07.940 The landscape is dramatic. Sheer cliffs drop into deep rolling waves. When inland, fertile
00:01:14.580 soil feeds green pastures and a long tradition of farming. Orcadians speak a distinctive
00:01:20.500 dialect and carry a rich body of folklore, stories shaped by centuries of isolation and the island's
00:01:26.820 Norse heritage. Orkney's tales echo Scandinavian myths but distance and the wild rugged land
00:01:33.780 give them a flavour all of their own. Its folklore is filled with creatures found nowhere else,
00:01:39.700 born of the land, the sea and the perilous space where the two meet.
00:01:43.380 among the most uncanny of these are the finn folk lurking just beyond the shorelines waiting
00:01:50.880 the finn folk are a race unique to orkney and shetland creatures of contradiction much like
00:02:00.240 the islands themselves part sea part land both wild and ordered amphibious and powerful they 0.92
00:02:07.000 can step from waves onto shore as they choose living comfortably between the two worlds
00:02:12.180 They are both threatening and benevolent, masters of weather, capable of calming the
00:02:18.180 sea for a fisherman, or raising storms to punish those who cross them. 0.96
00:02:22.600 Occasionally, a human might be asked to perform a favour for a finfolk.
00:02:27.040 Payment is given in copper coins, never silver, for the finfolk prize it above all else.
00:02:35.640 Unlike the mermaids we might picture, finfolk are fully humanoid, men and women alike,
00:02:41.040 though their daughters sometimes appear with mermaid tails.
00:02:45.080 Their bodies are draped with fins that fall like clothing,
00:02:47.920 making it difficult to tell them from land dwellers at a distance.
00:02:51.480 Up close, the fins reveal their otherworldly nature.
00:02:55.380 They are strong, athletic and extraordinary sailors,
00:02:59.120 able to cross a tempestuous North Sea in mere strokes of an oar.
00:03:02.420 finn men are said to have dark brooding faces and sad gloomy eyes they are clever and cunning
00:03:16.420 able to strike bargains with human fishermen or exact slow patient revenge on those who 0.66
00:03:22.720 trespass in finn folk waters tam scott was one such man who learned these truths firsthand
00:03:29.420 tam was once the finest boatman in orkney sharp of wit and steady at sea but his fate was changed
00:03:42.960 forever by an encounter with the finn folk one lammas fair tam was hired by a tall dark stranger
00:03:50.620 to ferry a cow across the isles the man paid double fare and when they launched tam saw him
00:03:57.500 lift the heavy beast into the boat as if it were a lamb, he began to suspect that his passenger was
00:04:03.420 no ordinary man. The journey stretched eastward, past island after island, until a wall of mist
00:04:09.900 rose from the sea. Within that fog, a strange light glowed, and through it, Tam glimpsed a
00:04:16.600 hidden land. Green hills, ripe fields, and shining waters. Before he could take it in,
00:04:23.240 the stranger blindfolded him. He felt the boat beach on gravel and heard voices, cattle and the
00:04:29.860 most enchanting music he had ever known. Lifting the cloth slightly, Tam saw a vision of mermaids
00:04:36.600 singing on the shore, their song sweet enough to break his heart. But another voice cut across the
00:04:43.140 music, reminding them that Tam had a wife and children waiting at home in Sunday. The mermaid's
00:04:50.060 song turned sorrowful and Tam wept at its beauty. The cow was carried away, a bag of payment dropped
00:04:59.700 at his feet and his boat shoved off. When he pulled away the blindfold, the island was gone,
00:05:06.700 swallowed and missed. He sailed home and though the bag was heavy, he found only copper coins
00:05:13.860 inside. The Finfolk, it seemed, never parted with silver. A year later, at the next Lammas fair,
00:05:26.400 Tam saw the stranger again. Cheerful and unsuspecting, he greeted him warmly. But the
00:05:33.340 man fixed him with a cruel look, opened a small box and blew dust into Tam's eyes.
00:05:39.240 You'll never say you've seen me again, he said
00:05:43.020 And from that moment, Tam Scott was blind
00:05:46.920 And so Tam's story was told in Orkney
00:05:52.540 A warning not to deal too freely with strangers
00:05:55.940 For many a fair face may hide a dark heart
00:05:59.480 And not all who walk among us belong to the human world
00:06:09.240 Hildaland is the Finfolk's summer refuge, a hidden paradise that appears above waters only
00:06:17.760 when they wish it to. To those rare few who can see them, the islands are perfect. Green pastures
00:06:24.640 with grazing cattle, golden wheat fields and fair houses shining in the sunlight.
00:06:30.960 Yet like a mirage, it can vanish in an instant, leaving only open sea.
00:06:35.680 Beneath the water lies their true kingdom, Finfolk Ahim.
00:06:42.460 Oral houses, gardens of glowing sea plants and palaces encrusted with enormous pearls and gemstones
00:06:49.580 stretch across the ocean floor.
00:06:52.880 At its heart stands a crystal dancing hall, glowing softly from the sea's own light.
00:06:58.900 Here, the Finfolk live in splendour,
00:07:02.280 glimpsed only in fleeting moments by those lucky or cursed enough to encounter them. 0.67
00:07:08.140 But even amidst the splendour of Finfokahim, 1.00
00:07:11.720 the Finwives often long for the world above, 0.97
00:07:15.120 the sunlit shores, unpredictable land,
00:07:17.760 and the chance to choose their own lives beyond the confines of the sea.
00:07:24.900 Finwives begin life as beautiful mermaids, 0.68
00:07:28.040 but are often portrayed as quarrelsome or stubborn,
00:07:30.720 especially when forced into marriage with a fin man.
00:07:34.140 They who grow bitter over menial tasks,
00:07:36.760 scolding their husbands or plotting in secret.
00:07:39.560 And they are famously attached to their silver,
00:07:42.140 reluctant to part with it even under strict orders.
00:07:46.320 These traits draw them to the human world in search of a husband.
00:07:50.440 If they succeed, they may take him beneath the waves to Finfokahim
00:07:54.200 or, in some stories, come to live with him on land instead.
00:07:58.720 but failure at making a human match comes at a steep price. A finn wife forced to marry a finn
00:08:07.480 man loses her beauty and her magical gifts aging seven years for every year of her unwanted 0.99
00:08:13.980 marriage. She may be sent ashore to toil as a healer or a spinner forced to send all of her
00:08:20.760 silver back to her husband or risk a cruel punishment. Many keep a black cat capable of
00:08:27.080 transforming into a fish to carry messages to kin beneath the waves. It's no wonder then that fin
00:08:34.940 wives seek human spouses. Love, desire and survival intertwine in their choices and sometimes a human 0.98
00:08:43.060 will meet a fin wife in a moment of fate, drawn into a life that blurs the boundary between land
00:08:48.920 and sea. Johnny Croy, also of Sanday, was one such man whose path would cross with a fin wife in a 0.77
00:08:56.880 story of love, danger and the pull of the ocean. Johnny was a strong, handsome young
00:09:08.120 man who, one day, when walking along the shore, heard a melody unlike any he'd ever
00:09:14.200 known. Sweet, haunting and carried on the sea breeze. Drawn by the song, he followed
00:09:22.240 it along the rocks and there he saw her, a mermaid combing her long golden hair with a comb of pure 0.75
00:09:29.560 gold sitting atop a sunlit stone. Overcome, Johnny crept closer, silent as a cat. In a sudden rush
00:09:38.420 of impulse, he sprang forward and kissed her. She recoiled, slapping him with her tail, very
00:09:44.200 reasonably I may add, which was, as he would soon discover, more than it seemed. It opened like a
00:09:51.020 petticoat, and she ran to the sea on feet as white as milk, eyes flashing between anger and 0.98
00:09:57.120 logging. Among the seaweed, the sunlight glinted off her golden comb. Johnny picked it up, clutching
00:10:04.920 it as a token of the mermaid's favour. She begged him to return it, but he refused. He pleaded with
00:10:11.740 her to come live on land with him. She shook her head, saying she could not endure life on shore.
00:10:17.020 but if he would go with her beneath the waves, she promised, he would become prosperous and
00:10:22.980 powerful. Their argument was interrupted by passers-by on the shore and the mermaid,
00:10:29.100 sorrowful, swam away, her golden comb lost to the tide.
00:10:35.520 Back at home, Johnny told his mother of the mermaid and the comb. She warned him to throw
00:10:41.340 back into the sea, but he could not. And so she advised him to keep it safe, for it gave him power
00:10:48.060 over his sea bride, though it was also dangerous. That night, as Johnny slept fitfully, the mermaid
00:10:55.600 appeared in his room, singing the same enchanting song. She offered again to take him beneath the
00:11:02.080 waves. He refused. Finally, she agreed to live with him on land for seven years, after which
00:11:08.860 he was to visit her underwater realm. Johnny consented and so they were married. Seven children
00:11:16.880 were born, the fairest in all of Orkney. But after the seven years, when the time came for the mermaid
00:11:23.760 to claim them, Johnny's mother intervened. She heated a wire into the shape of a cross and branded
00:11:31.460 the youngest child. When the mermaid tried to take him, a burning pain shot up her arm and she fled
00:11:37.720 in tears the boy could not come with her and he could live safely among the mortal folk
00:11:43.260 johnny his mermaid bride and their six eldest children sailed away the day after never to be
00:11:50.580 seen again but the story of their brief enchanted life on the island lingered a reminder of the
00:11:57.640 thin boundary between the human world and the hidden realms beneath the sea.
00:12:14.400 Just as the sea can give as much as it takes, so too do the Finfolk choose whom to touch with
00:12:20.580 their strange power. Some mortals find love, others vanish without a trace carried to hidden
00:12:27.420 realms beneath the waves. Annie Norn was one such soul taken from the shore of Orkney into a world
00:12:34.520 both wondrous and perilous. One evening, Annie, a young woman from Orkney, went down to the shore
00:12:46.460 to fetch seawater for cooking. Salt was rare and precious and seawater was often used instead.
00:12:52.500 but Annie never returned. Her family searched the coast, her neighbours scoured the fields,
00:12:58.340 but no trace of her was found. Some whispered that Annie had drowned, others, more certain,
00:13:04.960 said she had been taken, not by the waves, but by the Finfolk. The old people warned children
00:13:11.920 from then on, never wander the shore between the high tide and the low after sunset, or the Finfolk 1.00
00:13:18.780 will have you too. Years passed. One autumn, a ship was returning to Orkney from Norway,
00:13:25.720 battered by storms in the North Sea. The crew had been tossed about for weeks, unable to find their
00:13:31.880 way. When the gales finally stilled, a dense fog closed in around them and the ship would not move.
00:13:39.080 The sailors began to despair, fearing that they were bewitched, doomed to drift until the sea
00:13:44.420 claimed them. But through the mist, they saw a small boat approaching, rowed by a lone woman.
00:13:51.020 The men muttered nervously. They thought her a fin wife and expected no good to come of her.
00:13:56.860 Before they could stop her, she leapt aboard with the grace of a cat. One of the sailors
00:14:01.720 recognised her. It was Willy Norn, Annie's cousin. Annie, is that you? he cried. She smiled faintly
00:14:09.700 and said it was, but warned him she belonged to another world now. Annie took the helm and
00:14:16.560 commanded the crew with the ease of a born captain. At her touch, the ship cut through the water.
00:14:23.460 The fog broke and before them lay a shining island, calm bays ringed with green hills and
00:14:29.400 silver streams. She told them this was Hildaland, her home with the Finfolk.
00:14:34.740 the sailors were welcomed into a great hall fed and feasted and given rest from their ordeal
00:14:42.400 annie spoke privately with willie sending messages of love to her mother and telling him she had
00:14:49.360 children of her own now she pressed into his hand a charm promising it would help him with the woman
00:14:55.580 he wished to marry back home but when willie begged her to return with him annie shook her head
00:15:01.660 I'm too well kept here to ever leave, she said
00:15:05.420 In time, the sailors were returned safely to their ship
00:15:09.840 and carried back to Orkney
00:15:11.300 Willie used Annie's charm and soon after, he wed
00:15:15.400 but Annie herself was never seen again
00:15:18.820 Whether she lived on in the hidden halls of the Finfolk
00:15:23.380 or whether the sea finally claimed her
00:15:25.600 no one, back home at least, ever knew
00:15:28.900 the rugged life and shorelines of orkney and shetland were places of warning folktales told
00:15:42.660 children especially young women not to linger at the water's edge after dusk these stories kept
00:15:49.580 people safe but they also policed behavior shaping the boundaries of an acceptable life
00:15:55.980 fin wives embody another kind of warning their dissatisfaction and defiance reflect anxieties 0.99
00:16:03.780 about women who cannot be contained who resent domestic drudgery unlike selkie wives whose 0.88
00:16:09.940 sorrowful yearning for freedom earns them sympathy fin wives are often cast as cunning or even 0.77
00:16:16.000 dangerous when they seek more than the life allotted to them in this way the sea itself
00:16:21.940 becomes a metaphor for autonomy. To live in the finfolk world, to step beyond human society, 0.94
00:16:28.180 is to gain power but at a cost. Those who cross into it are seen as unnatural, 1.00
00:16:34.500 alien or threatening and their desires are framed as perilous. 0.64
00:16:43.780 The finfolk are the sea made flesh, alluring, unpredictable, beautiful but dangerous.
00:16:51.460 Annie Norn, Tam Scott, Johnny Crowe, each tale shows humans caught between fascination and fear,
00:16:59.340 drawn to a world beyond their own.
00:17:01.820 And the Finnwives, with their beauty, cunning and defiance, 0.51
00:17:05.840 remind us how women's voices and desires were often cast as monstrous.
00:17:10.820 Perhaps these stories are not just about mysterious folk in the waves,
00:17:14.760 but about a community grappling with the power of women
00:17:17.980 and the fear of losing them to the tide.
00:17:24.500 Thank you so much for joining me
00:17:26.620 for a special Sea Timber edition of Pinecones,
00:17:30.280 folklore shorts from Rowan and Pine.
00:17:32.680 We hope you really enjoyed our episode with
00:17:34.680 It Came From The Maritimes.
00:17:36.140 It was a lot of fun.
00:17:37.520 And if you haven't listened to it yet,
00:17:39.160 please go do so now
00:17:40.200 and send them some love on social media.
00:17:43.000 Until next time,
00:17:44.240 beware the singing shoreline 1.00
00:17:45.800 on doing favors for tall strangers thanks for listening and fuck yeah folklore 0.99
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