The Barnacle Maid

The Following is excerpted from "The Mysterious Doom and Other Ghostly Tales of the Pacific Northwest," by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, published this month by Sasquatch Books of Seattle.

OUT IN DECEPTION Pass, with the ebb and flow of the tide, the hair of a sea maiden can be seen drifting back and forth, back and forth, like a bed of kelp. Many people claim to see her even to this day. In her mortal life, this maiden had been the tribal princess Ko-Kwalawut, famed far and wide for her beauty and wisdom.

She lived before the coming of white settlers. In those days, the Samish people were famous fishermen. The coastline was dense with ancient forests and the many streams and rivers were pure and clear. It was a paradise given to the Indians to oversee and defend, and during their stewardship, the men were commonly out in their canoes, either upon the rivers or on Puget Sound. The women were more apt to be gatherers of clams, oysters and crabs along the shoreline.

One day Princess Ko was filling her basket with shellfish. She had struggled to dig up an especially large clam, but when she grasped it in her hand, it seemed to come to life and sprang into the shallows. She waded out to get the shellfish, but when she picked it up, it leapt into a deeper part of the water, as though upon invisible feet! She waded farther, and the same thing happened once more, so that she was standing waist deep in the cold, swift water.

When she started back toward the beach, a long nubbly arm covered with sand and seaweed reached upward from the sand at her feet. It caught hold of her wrist and held her fast. She struggled to get free, but could not shake the chilly and powerful grip. Then a voice from the water said to her, "Do not fear me. I, a prince of the sea, have greatly admired your beauty. I have fallen in love with you, and now that I have gotten hold of you, I will never let go."

"But you must let me go," said Princess Ko, a brave calmness in her voice. "Do you not know that I will drown if you drag me into your world?"

"How can I let you leave me after I have planned so long to capture you?" the prince asked.

She moved her foot back and forth to see if she could uncover his face in the sandy sea bottom, but all she detected was the upraised arm. Still, when he spoke, she heard him clearly. He said, "If you will promise to visit me in this cove from time to time, I will let you go."

She agreed, and during each of their meetings, the sea spirit held her hand for longer and longer periods of time. He spoke loving words to her, and finally asked her to marry him. Princess Ko said, "Only the chief, my father, can give me into marriage. You must ask his permission, and I must abide by his decision."

The spirit rose out of the sea and followed the princess to the village. Princess Ko was unafraid, but the people were frightened of his appearance, for he was encrusted with barnacles. Seaweed hung all about him. He had eyes like a fish, perfectly round and with no eyelids.

Everyone dreaded the prospect of their beautiful princess marrying such a monster. His presence caused a coldness throughout the village. When he asked the chief for Princess Ko's hand, her father was incensed. He said, "No! If my daughter entered the sea, she would die!"

"She shall not die," said the sea's prince. "She shall become one among my people and live forever. I have such love for her, believe me, she would not be harmed."

"No! She is the pride of our people, and I will not permit her to go into the sea. Go away at once!"

An icy wind exuded from the sea spirit. His chest swelled, and he seemed to inhale all the luck of the tribe. His eyes narrowed with anger and his massive, encrusted fingers coiled into a fist. In a low, threatening voice he said, "If you refuse me, the water in all the streams will be undrinkable. The fish will depart. Your people will die of thirst and famine."

"Go! Go!" shouted the chief, angered by such threats.

SO IT WAS THAT the streams turned dark with foul scum and mud, or were made salty by the invasion of the sea, or dried up altogether. There were no fish to be caught, no clams or oysters or crabs to be found. Night and day, a coldness filled the longhouses, and bonfires burned without heat. The people grew thin and ill. The children cried out constantly for food and water.

Princess Ko went to the cove where she had often met with the spirit, and chastised him for his cruelty to her people. "How can I return your affection when you perform evil deeds?" she scolded. She demanded that he restrain himself from his heartless acts. If he would take away the curse, she would beg her father to permit the marriage. Hearing her words, the sea spirit relented a little, and there was almost enough to eat, although it was still a hard time for the Samish.

Princess Ko went every day to talk to her father, and at last he was convinced of her desire to marry the sea spirit. He said he would give his blessing to the marriage under one condition. Once each year, his daughter must be allowed to return to the village, so that everyone could judge her happiness for themselves, and because otherwise they would miss her too much. The spirit arose from the sea until he stood atop the waters of Deception Pass. At the spirit's feet, water roiled furiously. The chief shivered at the coldness.

Then Princess Ko in her beautifully beaded and feathered wedding garments walked out on the surface of the water. She took her husband's hand, and slowly they sank downward together, until all that was visible was the beautiful dark hair of Princess Ko waving to and fro with the tide.

FROM THAT DAY on, the rivers ran crystal clear. Salmon hurried up the streams, coming from the sea, and the nets of the Samish people were filled. The beaches were dense with shellfish, and all the women's baskets were filled with razor clams and butter clams and oysters. There was greater prosperity than ever before, because the sea had married a Samish princess.

A year later, the princess came to visit. The salmon catch had been excellent the day before her arrival, which had been a sign of her coming, and everyone greeted her with reverence and awe. In spite of her friendliness, her relatives were uncomfortable around her, because Princess Ko exuded the terrible coldness of creatures of the sea, and this affected the atmosphere wherever she passed.

There was a great feast, and everyone danced and sang. Yet for all the joy of the reunion, a degree of superstitious dread underlay the festivities, for Ko's people felt strange about her new life. Her coloring had become ever so slightly molded and greenish, and the chilliness her body generated made people want to sit or stand apart from her.

The following year there was another extraordinarily fine catch, followed by the arrival of the princess. But during the feast, everyone thought Princess Ko looked uncomfortable and agitated, as though she hated to be so long out of the sea. They feared her a little more than they had on her first visit, since strange things so often frighten people. Their fear made the princess melancholy in their presence.

The year after that, it was even more difficult for the people to get into a festive mood, despite so much food and singing. For by now, their beloved princess had undergone dramatic changes. Her beautiful eyes had become like the eyes of a fish, round and unblinking. Upon her arms and on her neck, barnacles had taken hold. As she stood among her people, a cold wind whipped about her, and even her father could not stand close to her without shaking with a chill.

On the fourth year, she came again. The people were horrified. That face that had once been so beautiful was now entirely sheathed in barnacles. Her arms were like barnacle-encrusted driftwood. Seaweed clung to her everywhere. Only her raven hair was still the same, assuring the people that she was indeed their beloved princess.

Sad though it made her father the chief, he released his daughter from her vow to return once each year, for she was not happy out of the sea, and the people had become afraid of her coldness and appearance.

THE SAMISH chanted this tale to the beat of drums. The old songs and the old ways are rarer now than they once were. But the people remember Princess Ko, and to this day her hair can be seen flowing to and fro with the tides. They say she is still protecting the Samish people.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: In 1938, Native American artist Charlie Edwards directed the carving of the Swinomish Reservation story pole. This story pole is a 61-foot cedar log depicting totem beasts and historical individuals including toads, bears, orcas, spirits and even a representation of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed the bill that recognized the Samish people's right to self government.

Preserved on the story pole is the tradition of a gigantic ghostly apparition in Deception Pass near the mouth of the Skagit River. In the 1960s, a Pierce County newspaper journalist, Emerson N. Matson, heard this story from Chief Martin Sampson himself, a man who rendered many great services for this tribe and for the larger community of Washingtonians. I have retold Chief Sampson's tale from Matson's version, "The Maiden of Deception Pass," in Longhouse Legend (New York, Thomas Nelson, 1963).