A Nordic Legend: How Skywhales Came to Be

(Inspired by the Haidan Nation's legend "Wolf and the Sea")

Transcribed by Nordic scholar Tryggvi Skat-Mora from one of the heretical Wine-Wives of Skaal Chief Hrumblvlag (who shan't be named, lest he know of our adultery)

Once the sea had an endless abundance of whales and the men of Skyrim were renowned harpooners.

All over Tamriel, one would hear tales of the Nords' exquisite hvalkjǫt (that's 'whale meat' for all you readers unfamiliar with our Nordic culture), blubber, grey amber, as well as commodities crafted from their oil and bones.

Then one day a haughty High Elf came with a pair of large tamed wolves - I'm talking as big as a mammoth calf!

Like many, she had heard of the Nords' great fortune and wanted to share in their bounty, but like most elves, she wanted to clever her way around all the hard work it required.

She taught those wolves how to breathe the ocean's water as if ghosts, and wouldn't you know it, within one day they'd bring her back in their fangs a mountain's worth of cetaceans!

Those whales who loitered closest to the shores all moaned a dismal song towards the sky, asking blessed Kyne, "Oh mother, oh absolute guardian of nature, won't you liberate us from such injustice?"

The elf laughed herself to the ground at the sight of their pleas, calling them pathetic maggots worshiping a mindless [earth]bone.

If she had been standing, the elf might have seen them all rise forth like swaying sky-lamps from Kyne's voice, and she might have avoided being gobbled up in one breathe.

Now our Motherland has fewer whales then blasted Hammerfell and we are far more known for our mead than anything else.

But still, I give thanks to Kyne, for she blesses us Nords as equally as she punishes us, and is certainly more reliable than my stupid husband's "All-Maker", who can't bother to give us any good meat.