Journey with Story - A Storytelling Podcast for Kids
Sep 3, 2026 · 21 min · 11 segments
An old folktale from Scotland about a talented seal catcher who discovers that the work he is doing is causing much more harm and suffering than he realized. But if he stops catching seals and…
Once upon a time there was a man who lived in the north of Scotland in a little cottage by the seashore.
He earned a good deal of money in this way, for these creatures used to come out of the sea in large numbers and lie in the rocks near his house, basking in the sunshine, so that it was not difficult kill them.
Some of those seals were larger than others, and the country people used to call them selkies, and they whispered that they were not seals at all, but mere men and mere women who came from a country of their own far down under the ocean.
and who took on this strange disguise in order to pass through the water and come up to breathe the air of this earth of ours.
But the seal catcher only laughed and said that those seals were the ones most worth killing, for their skins were so big that he got an extra price for them.
Now it chanced that one day, as he crept upstairs, and stabbed one of these particularly large seals with his hunting knife.
The seal catcher, much annoyed at his clumsiness and also at the loss of his knife, went home to dinner in a very downcast frame of mind.
On his way he met a horseman who was so tall and strange looking and who rode on such a gigantic horse that the seal catcher stopped and looked at him in astonishment, wondering who he was and from what country he came.
On hearing that he was a seal catcher, he immediately ordered a great number of seal skins.
The seal catcher was delighted for such an order meant a large sum of money to him.
But his face fell when the horseman added that it was absolutely necessary that the skins should be delivered that evening.
I cannot do it, said the seal catcher in a disappointed voice, for the seals will not come back to the rocks again until tomorrow morning.
I can take you to a place where there are any number of seals, answered the stranger, if you will mount behind me on my horse and come with me.
Then the rider shook his bridle rein off the great horse galloped at such a pace that the seal catcher had much ado to keep his seat.
They went flying like the wind, until at last they came to the edge of a huge precipice, the face of which went sheer down to the sea.
Once upon a time there was a man who lived in the north of Scotland in a little cottage by the seashore.
He earned a good deal of money in this way, for these creatures used to come out of the sea in large numbers and lie in the rocks near his house, basking in the sunshine, so that it was not difficult kill them.
Some of those seals were larger than others, and the country people used to call them selkies, and they whispered that they were not seals at all, but mere men and mere women who came from a country of their own far down under the ocean.
and who took on this strange disguise in order to pass through the water and come up to breathe the air of this earth of ours.
But the seal catcher only laughed and said that those seals were the ones most worth killing, for their skins were so big that he got an extra price for them.
Now it chanced that one day, as he crept upstairs, and stabbed one of these particularly large seals with his hunting knife.
The seal catcher, much annoyed at his clumsiness and also at the loss of his knife, went home to dinner in a very downcast frame of mind.
On his way he met a horseman who was so tall and strange looking and who rode on such a gigantic horse that the seal catcher stopped and looked at him in astonishment, wondering who he was and from what country he came.
On hearing that he was a seal catcher, he immediately ordered a great number of seal skins.
The seal catcher was delighted for such an order meant a large sum of money to him.
But his face fell when the horseman added that it was absolutely necessary that the skins should be delivered that evening.
I cannot do it, said the seal catcher in a disappointed voice, for the seals will not come back to the rocks again until tomorrow morning.
I can take you to a place where there are any number of seals, answered the stranger, if you will mount behind me on my horse and come with me.
Then the rider shook his bridle rein off the great horse galloped at such a pace that the seal catcher had much ado to keep his seat.
They went flying like the wind, until at last they came to the edge of a huge precipice, the face of which went sheer down to the sea.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
