The Children of Lir: The Long Exile of the Swans

The Jealousy of a Stepmother

Lir was a powerful lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann (the magical race of ancient Ireland). He had four beautiful children: Finnguala, Aodh, Fiachra, and Conn. After their mother died, Lir married her sister, Aoife. At first, Aoife loved the children, but as she saw Lir’s boundless devotion to them, a bitter jealousy took root in her heart. She wished to be the sole object of Lir’s affection.

The Transformation

One day, while traveling to visit her father, Aoife took the children to Lake Derravaragh. While they were swimming, she used a magical wand to transform them into four magnificent white swans. However, she could not take away their human speech or their beautiful, haunting singing voices. Realizing what she had done, the gods punished Aoife by turning her into a demon of the air forever, but the curse on the children remained. They were doomed to spend 900 years as swans: 300 on Lake Derravaragh, 300 on the cold Sea of Moyle, and 300 on the stormy Atlantic coast.

The End of the Song

For nine centuries, the children endured the freezing waters and the lonely winds, comforted only by each other’s presence and their music. Their songs were so beautiful that people would travel from all over Ireland just to listen. Finally, when the 900 years were up, they returned to their father’s palace, only to find it in ruins—the era of the magical Tuatha Dé Danann had passed. A Christian monk found them and, as the bells of the first church rang, the curse broke. The swans turned back into humans, but they were now ancient, withered people. They were baptized and died peacefully, their souls finally flying to heaven as birds of light.