after a telling by Clara Pearson Nehalem Tillamook

As time passed the man tired
of his seal wives
the sisters who had rescued him
from drowning
when his canoe capsized

Missing his former life
he fled back to his village
to his daughter
and the wife who recognized him
though he'd changed
grown fur on his face and arms
still she took him back

For days he sang the songs he'd learned
from the seal people
now he was fearful of the water
and only once reluctantly agreed
to go with his wife's brothers
fishing with nets from their canoe

When the nets snagged
and the brothers
failed to free them
he looked below and saw
his two seal wives
even then the brothers
badgered him
till he jumped overboard
it was as he had seen
his two seal wives
were clinging to the nets
waiting for him
because those brothers wished it
he went back
to live with his seal wives