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The Children of Lir
Clann Lir
people remembered as the Tuatha De Danann once ruled Ireland. They are said to have come across the waters
from the far east, Scythia and come to Ireland via Spain. A soulful people skilled in music and poetry, they also
had gifts of magic and enchantment. Records describe them as being tall and fair of face like the Gaels
(descendants of Goidel- son of Mil) who conquered them.
At one time a king of the name Bov Deareg ruled the Tuatha de Danann. Another leader, Lir, was his rival to the throne.
On loosing his bid for kingship, Lir went to live apart from the rest of the Tuatha de Danann. To placate Lir and maintain
peace, as was the tradition at that time; Bo Deareg sent one of his three children, a daughter named Aev to be a wife to
Lir. Together they bore four children- three boys, Fiachra, Aodh, and Conn and a daughter named Fionnula. Sadly, Aev
did not survive long after the birth of her fourth child Conn. Bo Deareg, seeing that Lir needed a mother for his children,
send another daughter – Aoife to be a wife to him.
Now, Lir’s children are said to have been the most beautiful children ever seen in Ireland. They had bright red lips, snow
white skin and eyes that shone green when they gazed upon the sea- blue when they looked skyward. So handsome were
they that the King Bov Deareg would visit just to delight in the sight of them playing, full of the blooms of youth.
Lir was close to his children and loved them dearly – far
more he loved them than ever would he care for his new
wife! This over time brought a hardness to Aoife’s heart. She
grew jealous and angry. One day, she took a chariot and put
her four step children into it and set out on the road towards
Bov Deareg’s Palace. They stopped on the way at a lake called
“Lake of the Oaks” and there she sent the children to bathe
and play in the water.
There they were playing happily as usual, when she took her
magic wand and chanted a spell as she touched each one;
“From now my dears, no more shall you near,
with flocks of birds you’ll fly,
and in cries of birds, no more human words
you’ll live and never die”
And, one by one, they were transformed ... into magestic
white swans! The children, now terrified at their trusted
mother’s callous magic begged her to undo her magic. They
longed to be turned once more into their own, beautiful,
human forms. Aoife refused. She laughed now at their
misery, her jealously avenged. Finally, Fionnula, who was
the eldest of the four children spoke: “You have played a
wicked spell on us Aoife. But at least please can you put some
limitations on this enchantment so that one day we may be
human beings once more?”
There they were playing happily as usual, when At this, Aoife agreed; “But it would be better for you if you
she took her magic wand and chanted a spell as she
touched each one had not asked me! For three hundred years you will remain
on this Lake of Oaks, for three hundred years after that you
will do to the Isle of Maoile between Ireland and Scotland; and three hundred years more you will spend at Inis Gluaire,
on the Wild North Coast of Ireland. You will not take again your human forms until you hear a bell chanting in honour of
God three times a day in Ireland.”
Those were Aoife’s last words to the poor children now in their sorry state – 900 years to live out their term in the form of
swans.
159
Clann Lir
people remembered as the Tuatha De Danann once ruled Ireland. They are said to have come across the waters
from the far east, Scythia and come to Ireland via Spain. A soulful people skilled in music and poetry, they also
had gifts of magic and enchantment. Records describe them as being tall and fair of face like the Gaels
(descendants of Goidel- son of Mil) who conquered them.
At one time a king of the name Bov Deareg ruled the Tuatha de Danann. Another leader, Lir, was his rival to the throne.
On loosing his bid for kingship, Lir went to live apart from the rest of the Tuatha de Danann. To placate Lir and maintain
peace, as was the tradition at that time; Bo Deareg sent one of his three children, a daughter named Aev to be a wife to
Lir. Together they bore four children- three boys, Fiachra, Aodh, and Conn and a daughter named Fionnula. Sadly, Aev
did not survive long after the birth of her fourth child Conn. Bo Deareg, seeing that Lir needed a mother for his children,
send another daughter – Aoife to be a wife to him.
Now, Lir’s children are said to have been the most beautiful children ever seen in Ireland. They had bright red lips, snow
white skin and eyes that shone green when they gazed upon the sea- blue when they looked skyward. So handsome were
they that the King Bov Deareg would visit just to delight in the sight of them playing, full of the blooms of youth.
Lir was close to his children and loved them dearly – far
more he loved them than ever would he care for his new
wife! This over time brought a hardness to Aoife’s heart. She
grew jealous and angry. One day, she took a chariot and put
her four step children into it and set out on the road towards
Bov Deareg’s Palace. They stopped on the way at a lake called
“Lake of the Oaks” and there she sent the children to bathe
and play in the water.
There they were playing happily as usual, when she took her
magic wand and chanted a spell as she touched each one;
“From now my dears, no more shall you near,
with flocks of birds you’ll fly,
and in cries of birds, no more human words
you’ll live and never die”
And, one by one, they were transformed ... into magestic
white swans! The children, now terrified at their trusted
mother’s callous magic begged her to undo her magic. They
longed to be turned once more into their own, beautiful,
human forms. Aoife refused. She laughed now at their
misery, her jealously avenged. Finally, Fionnula, who was
the eldest of the four children spoke: “You have played a
wicked spell on us Aoife. But at least please can you put some
limitations on this enchantment so that one day we may be
human beings once more?”
There they were playing happily as usual, when At this, Aoife agreed; “But it would be better for you if you
she took her magic wand and chanted a spell as she
touched each one had not asked me! For three hundred years you will remain
on this Lake of Oaks, for three hundred years after that you
will do to the Isle of Maoile between Ireland and Scotland; and three hundred years more you will spend at Inis Gluaire,
on the Wild North Coast of Ireland. You will not take again your human forms until you hear a bell chanting in honour of
God three times a day in Ireland.”
Those were Aoife’s last words to the poor children now in their sorry state – 900 years to live out their term in the form of
swans.
159
