...Why do you weep?...
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The Children of Lir is an Irish legend which tells the story of four children: Fionnuala, Aedh, Fiachra, and Conn. Fionnuala was the oldest, a year later was Aedh, and then their twin brothers. They were of the race of the Tuatha De Danann, god-like beings who existed at a time when magic was alive in this world. It came upon Aedh and Fionnuala, the day that their brothers Fiachra and Conn were born, that their mother Eva felt the De Danann Sleep come over her and she was laid to rest in a secret room in their father's Fort. Their father, King Lir, Lord of the Sea, was much grieved by this, and he turned to his children for solace. Fionnuala and Aedh took charge in caring for their newborn brothers, and slowly the years passed in this way...
One day, Lir met a woman, Aife, who was his wife's sister. He began to spend much time with her, and it wasn't long before he approached Aedh and Fionnuala and told them of his attention to marry her. They were saddened by this, because they thought of their mother, but their father said Eva would wish it; she would not want them to grow up without a mother.
And so King Lir married Aife and took her into his house.
In the beginning every was fine; Aife treated the four children as if they were her own. But eventually, she began to be cold to them, and Fionnuala most of all noticed this change in her. It wasn't long before their stepmother began to be cruel to them. She would tell their father how reckless and bad they were, although he would not believe her; he would only say she must be imagining things. This only made Aife all the more infuriated.
One day, the children's friend and the trusted right-hand to their father, Mechar, entrusted to Fionnuala and Aedh two magic stones on a pendant. He bade them to wear these at all times, for he divulged that he was growing afraid for them. He told them that recently Aife had gone to a witch woman to have her future told, and she asked if she would bear children for Lir. The answer was no; she was unable to be with child. And so, she had no claim over Lir's throne, which Mechar explained hastily...
Realizing this, Fionnuala and Aedh were even more on their guard -- just as Mechar had asked them to be. Aife was still more cruel and harsh to them and their brothers. Then one day, she fell ill and took to her bed. Lir sent all the great magicians in the land to see what was wrong, but there was nothing, and all that could be concluded was that it was either an imaginary illness or one of the mind.
Yet Aife insisted she was sick. This lasted for an entire year.
Then, one day, while Fionnuala and Aedh were playing a game outside the Fort, Aife suddenly appeared. She was restless and cold with them, and told them to get ready because she wanted to take them on a trip. The two suspected something, and Aedh sent word to Mechar that Aife was taking them somewhere. Yet they could not disobey her; she was frightening enough in her rage as it was. They gathered Conn and Fiachra and joined their stepmother in the carriage she had had brought.
They were supposedly going to their grandfather's fort, but the driver drove so recklessly that Conn and Fiachra felt ill, and Aedh pleaded with Aife to stop the carriage for a while. This she did, at the lake, and told them to swim in the water while she readied their picnic.
They did this. Eventually they went to return to the bank, only to find that Aife was not there. Thinking she might have driven away and abandoned them there, they started out of the water, knowing they couldn't remain there.
And then, Aife emerged from nearby, having waited for them. They saw that she was clad in their father's magical cloak; all De Danann had one, and they only used it when about to perform serious magic. Aife then revealed her malice, saying she would be rid of the children now, as she could see that their father loved them more than her.
Yet she knew she could not kill them, because her deed would be unmasked; their ghosts could tell of her treachery. She instead began an enchantment, for hers was the magic of transformation. She froze them in place and worked her magic, and the children lost feeling in their bodies as the magic rolled over them. When they finally regained their senses, Aedh went at her in a rage, only to find that he made no ground. It was then the children beheld each other -- each had been transformed into a swan!
Aife declared that this spell would last for nine-hundred years, and for each set of three-hundred years the children would spend their time on a different body of water. At the end, they would only change back into their human selves if they heard the ringing of the bell of the New God. Aife left, laughing at them, in her carriage.
It wasn't long before Mechar found them with his stone and realized what had happened. He went straight to their grandfather's fort, where Aife was spinning a glorious lie about how the children had been ravaged and attack by a pack of wild boars while on the banks of the lake. At first neither Lir nor the children's grandfather believed him; they then had Aife look into the Mirror of Truth while telling her story, and it revealed what she had done!
Outraged, their grandfather, Bov, transformed Aife into a demon-like lizard, which one of Mechar's golden eagles devoured as it tried to escape. Lir then went to the lake and beheld his children. He moved his courts to the side of
the lake where he could stay with them. And so passed the first three hundred years of the enchantment.
The curse then forced the children to travel to their next destination; they last beheld their father on the shores of the lake, haggard and with tears in his eyes, for he had put off the Sleep just to be with them. Their next home was in the treacherous
Straits of Moyle, where the storms were so fierce and water so cold that ice would freeze their legs to the rock they stood on.
After three-hundred years there, they were able to travel to the last leg of their journey,
Inish Glora, a small island off the coast. On the way they passed where their father's Fort had stood, and saw that it was gone, and they wept, knowing that the De Danann had faded from the world.
Luckily they found a small lake that shared the same waters as those around the island, and so were able to settle on the edge of the mainland. In that lake they met a man, who was building a hut on the side of the lake. They spoke to him, and at first he was frightened, and then he realized who the were. The Children of Lir!
He was a holy man, but not such as the children of Lir knew; he was of the New God. They asked him to teach them about this New God, for part of their enchantment rested on it. And so he told them about the Christ, and that this was the new god that had come to their land.
Three hundred years passed. The holy man had built a church by the lake, and he had had a bell made to place in it. The children were excited about this, because when it rang, it would be the end of the spell!
It was on the final day for their enchantment that a horrible thing happened. A man with many armed men came, and demanded the swans. He had promised them to his wife, Princess of Munster, as a wedding gift. She was a selfish and greedy woman.
The holy man said he could not have them, but the man threatened to tear down the church if he did not comply. The children came out in front of the holy man, defending him and saying the church should not be torn down. They would go to the Princess.
As they were about to be placed in the cages in the wagon, they heard a bell toll. It was then that a mist enveloped them, and the men holding them dropped them out of terror, and when the mist cleared the children stood there! They had regained human form!
But, it was not long after this that they left this World, having been called by their parents. They went to them, fading away as they left their bodies behind, never to be seen again.
Or is that really the end...?
...What are these tears upon your face?...
