Our story today is called The Children of Lir. It's a little more well-known than some of the other stories I've been talking about in Celtic mythology, so you might have heard of it. The Children of Lir is one of those interesting stories that somehow blends Celtic mythology and Christianity. Its main characters are children of the Tuatha De Danann, the Celtic gods. Despite this, they build a friendship with the Irish monk Mo Chaemoc, and ultimately convert to Christianity.
The children of gods become Christian.
This intrigues me to no end.
Anyway: the story. It begins in ancient times, but ends after Saint Patrick brings Christianity to Ireland - sometime around the fifth or sixth century. The spelling of its characters' names can vary drastically. I'm sticking with what's in the books I have, but if you're interested you should look up the characters. For example, even Lir, which is by far the shortest name in this story, is sometimes spelled Lear. (You might be familiar with that version of spelling. Yes, he's that Lear - or, at least, the inspiration for him.)
The story also has some truly fascinating parallels to certain fairy tales - both Cinderella and Snow White come to mind when I read it, as does the tale of Hase-Hime. Of course, there's also some similarities to The Black Swan. Keep an eye out for them!
The story begins when the Tuatha De Danann are electing a king. Lir, a prominent member of the group, fully expects the crown to fall to him. As such, he is quite furious when another member named Bobd is named king instead. Lir storms out of the assembly in a huff, and keeps to himself for quite some time.
Well, not entirely to himself. Lir has a wife whom he loves very much, and she keeps him company as he sulks. Then, one day, she falls ill. It is not long before she dies, leaving Lir heartbroken by his loss.
While Lir mourns his wife, Bobd begins to think. Lir's long absence from the Tuatha De Danann has not gone unnoticed, and King Bobd wants to bring him back into the fold. To this end, Bobd offers to let Lir marry his choice of one of Bobd's foster daughters.
The prospect of a new wife cheers Lir up considerably; he accepts Bobd's offer and takes his eldest foster daughter, Aeb, to be his wife. A great wedding feast is held, and the couple are happy together...for a time.
Not long after the wedding, Aeb becomes pregnant. Soon she gives birth to twins - a boy and a girl, named Luke and Leia.
(Kidding. Their actual names are Aed and Fionnguala.)
Shortly thereafter, Aeb becomes pregnant again. Once more she gives birth to twins. This time they're both boys, who are named Fiachra and Conn. Sadly, their birth is a difficult one. Both boys survive, but Aeb does not.
The loss of a second wife pushes Lir into despair. Only his children are capable of comforting the grief-stricken man, who clings to his remaining family.
(I love that he doesn't blame the children for their mother's death. That's actually pretty common in stories, particularly in fairy tales - both Snow White and Donkeyskin/Tattercoats come to mind.)
Wanting to help, Bobd once again offers Lir his choice of wife from amongst Bobd's foster daughters. (Pretty generous, right? At this point, Lir has outlived two wives. I'm not sure I'd be offering him any more with that kind of bad luck! Then again, Bobd might not like his foster daughters too much...)
Lir takes Aoife to be his wife, and she returns with him to his home. Lir dotes on his children as they grow up, and often takes them to see their grandfather Bobd. The youths are kind and intelligent, and everyone loves them...except for one person.
In the beginning Aoife tried to care for her step-children. She wanted to please her husband and honor her sister, so she cared for the four young ones as if they were her own brood. Over time, however, Aoife began to grow jealous. Everyone was so enamored with the children that they failed to notice the step-mother - even her husband, Lir.
One day Aoife couldn't stand it anymore. She faked an illness (which I'm sure made Lir pretty nervous, given what happened to his previous wives...) and took to her bed. She spent a year there, "resting" - when in fact she was plotting the downfall of her step-children.
When the year was over Aoife was convinced she had a scheme that would work. She sprang from her bed, cured - look! It's a miracle! - and announced that she wanted to take the children to visit Bobd.
Lir was thrilled to see his wife recovered and agreed to the idea at once, despite the protestations of his daughter Fionnguala. (Alright, I finally got curious and looked up the pronunciation of her name. I might be messing this up, but I think it's "Fin-ooh-la". Pretty, right?) Fionnguala had a sense that her stepmother was planning something evil. Unfortunately, her premonitions were dismissed. She and her brothers were sent with Aoife and some servants for their journey to Bobd's castle.
When they were some distance away from the castle, Aoife called some servants to her. She offered them whatever they wanted if they would kill Lir's children for her.
(It took her a year to think up that plan?!?)
The servants were horrified and refused, calling the mere idea evil. Yet, for some reason, they didn't warn the kids, and they didn't turn around and head straight back to Lir. Gee, nice going, servants...
Instead, the group marched on. Aoife considered killing the children herself, but couldn't quite work up the nerve. Then, as they neared a lake, an idea struck her. Aoife stopped the group and told the children to take a bath in the nearby waters. As soon as they were in the lake she used her druidic powers and turned them into swans!
Fionnguala was horrified when she realized what had happened. Unable to reverse the curse herself, Lir's daughter turned to her step-mother. She pleaded with Aoife, begging her to set a time limit on the transformation so that they would not remain cursed for all eternity. I'm sure Fionnguala was hoping that Aoife would make the curse only last for a year or two. Unfortunately, Aoife really hated her step-children. She condemned them to spend 300 years trapped on that lake in swan form. After that the four siblings would be forced to fly to another lake, where they would spend another 300 years. When the time was up they would fly to one last lake and spend an additional 300 years there. There would be no escaping the curse; because Fionnguala herself had requested a time limit, the spell could not possibly be lifted before the 900 years were up.
Evil Aoife left her distressed swan step-children (the victims of fowl play) and continued on to Bobd's palace. Immediately the king wanted to know where his grandchildren were. Aoife told him that Lir would not let her take the children, for he did not trust her. Perhaps Aoife was hoping that her foster-father would attack Lir for this insult, and her misdeeds would be hidden in the chaos of war. If so, she was out of luck. Bobd, while furious, did not take up arms against Lir.
Instead the king sent Lir an angry message demanding an explanation. A confused Lir responded that he had sent the children with Aoife. Before too long, the woman's treachery was revealed. Horrorstruck by what she had done to his grandchildren, Bobd used his own druidic powers to turn Aoife into a wind demon. She was forever cursed to roam the skies as recompense for her actions.
Bobd and Lir then raced for the lake, where they found four beautiful swans. The swan children sensed the distress of their relatives, so they swam to the edge of the lake and began to sing. The music was unlike anything the listeners had ever heard before. It was so sweet and pure that all negative emotions were driven away by its sound.
Word of the swan children of Lir - and their beautiful songs - soon spread. For the next 300 years they were never alone. People travelled from all over the country just to hear their song and be healed by it. The lilting music made all of their cares melt away; it was well worth the trip.
Eventually the 300th year passed, and the swans were forced by their curse to move to a new lake far from home. This one was a far less pleasant place, for its waters were often tossed by violent storms. There were times when the siblings were separated by fierce winds and feared that the others had drowned, only to be reunited when the storm ended.
Their torment was eventually broken by visitors from the Tuatha De Danann. They told Fionnguala and her brothers about their family, and that all was well with their people. The news cheered the swans, but the messengers soon departed. Fionnguala and her brothers were once again left to the mercy of the storms.
The swans were grateful when their 300 years were up. They flew to their new home, which was a little more bearable than the last. During their time there Christianity spread to Ireland, and a small oratory was built by the waters of the lake. The monk that built it, Mo Chaemoc, had never heard the stories of the magical swans. He was quite surprised to hear them begin singing one morning after the monks had finished their own songs.
Mo Chaemoc inquired after the swans, and soon he knew the story of the Children of Lir. He called the swans to him and kept them as his companions. In Mo Chaemoc's company Fionnguala and her brothers learned of Christ, and found themselves hopeful.
They passed the last of their cursed years as friends, until their curse at last was lifted. Mo Chaemoc watched as his swan friends transformed back into humans - but humans who rapidly aged 900 years before his eyes. Though old and wizened, the siblings held on to life long enough for Mo Chaemoc to baptize them. Then they passed on and were buried - Fionnguala in the center, with her brothers surrounding her.
I think the story is beautiful (albeit somewhat depressing). It's an immensely popular tale, too - there are still statues of the Children of Lir
and the story continues to be told. I hope you guys enjoyed it!
As a few sidenotes - spell check really hated me on this post. Interestingly enough, the only name it didn't try to tell me was misspelled was Aoife. I wonder why?
As far as the monks and their singing goes...have you guys ever heard the singing of monks? It is astonishingly lovely. I first heard it through the mystery TV show Cadfael. Here's a link to a video of the opening theme; the episodes often feature the monks singing.
I'll be back next week with a post about Cath Palug, who is one of my favorite characters in Celtic mythology. He's an evil kitty cat! After that I've got one more Celtic post planned, and then we'll switch to a different set of legends. I'll let you know next week what it'll be; see you then!
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