Has anyone here met the Stràilleach Golamas?

He lives on the foreshore, in the space between where the water reaches when the tide comes in, and where the water reaches when the tide goes out.

And how long do you think he’s lived there?

For as long as the tide has come in and gone back out again.

And for all that time, twice a day, when the tide goes out, he’s made himself a body from the things that the water brings. So he’s never the same, from one day to the next.

He moves along the shore, picking up the prettiest shells and sea glass and driftwood and feathers and fishbones. He puts his treasures in a sack made from a mermaid’s-purse, and when he has enough, he sits on a stone and makes a new body for himself.

His seaweed hair might be brown, or green.

His legs might be driftwood.

He might make fingers from fishbones or feathers.

He might have one eye, or two, or three, or four, or even more!

It all depends on what he finds on the shore, and which bits of sea glass he sees through most clearly.

And though he’s been there every day, twice a day, for as long as the tide has come in and gone back out again, you might never have seen him, even if you go to the shore every day, because if he smells the funny, un-salty smell of a human, he throws himself down on the ground, and you’d never think he was anything other than a few feathers and sticks and stones.

But what’s this?

The Stràilleach Golamas has started to find new things on his shore.

Where once there was only seaweed and bits of sea glass and shells and feathers and bones – all green and grey and brown – now there are strange objects, things he doesn’t recognise.

There are round things with rims, like little shallow cups with no handles. Some of them are bright red. Some of them are bright blue. Some of them are bright green.

What do you think they might be?

They look like they might make good eyes, so he picks them up and puts them in his mermaid’s-purse sack.

There are things that look like clumps of hair, some thick strands, some fine, some looking like they’ve been combed out and some all knotted together.

What do you think they might be?

They’re bright colours too: green and orange and a beautiful blue. So he picks some up and puts them in his mermaid’s purse sack.

There are things that are bit like short, hollow, brightly coloured sticks.

Can anyone guess what they are?

They look as if they might make good fingers! So he picks them up and puts them in his mermaid’s-purse sack.

Very soon, his sack is full, and the Stràilleach Golamas sits down on a stone and starts to make himself a new body, with three different coloured bottle tops for eyes, and some beautiful blue rope for hair, and shotgun cartridges for fingers. It certainly looks very fine. But when he climbs inside, he finds he can’t see out of any of the eyes, and he can’t pick anything up with his fingers …

And what do you think happens next?

Note from Anna: I wrote this story for the workshops we have been doing in Argyll with the GRAB Trust. The Stràilleach Golamas’s name is made up of two Gaelic words: “stràilleach” is a word for a pile of seaweed and “golamas” is a mishmash or hotchpotch. It is meant to be read out loud. (It’s also the explanation for the name of our beached marine litter solutions workshop.)