The Children of Lir

Lir, a lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann, had four beautiful children: Fionnuala, Aodh, Fiachra, and Conn. After his wife died, he married her sister, Aoife. At first, Aoife loved the children, but she soon grew jealously possessive of Lir's affection for them.

One day, she took the children to a lake. While they were swimming, she used a druidic wand to transform them into white swans. She cursed them to remain as swans for 900 years: 300 on Lake Derravaragh, 300 on the Sea of Moyle, and 300 on the Atlantic isle of Inishglora. They retained their human voices and the ability to sing more beautifully than any mortal.

When Lir discovered what Aoife had done, he was heartbroken. He could not break the spell, but he punished Aoife by turning her into an air demon to wander the skies forever. Lir and his people spent the first 300 years by the lake listening to the swans' sad, sweet songs.

But the centuries passed. Lir died, and the Tuatha Dé Danann faded into the mounds to become the Sidhe (fairies). The swans endured harsh winters and stormy seas, separated and battered by ice, yet kept together by Fionnuala's leadership. They witnessed the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, marked by the sound of the first church bell.

Finally, on the isle of Inishglora, they heard the bell of the holy man Mo Caemoc. The spell was broken. But 900 years had passed. As true form returned, they were not children, but withered, ancient crones and old men. They were baptized by the monk just before they collapsed and died of extreme old age, their souls going to heaven, finally at peace.