LEER
The Children of Lir are four siblings turned into swans by their jealous stepmother and condemned to 900 years on Irish waters, one of the Three Sorrows of Irish Storytelling.
The Children of Lir, in Irish Clann Lir, is one of the "Three Sorrows of Irish Storytelling". Lir, a lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann, has four children by his first wife Aobh: Fionnuala, Aodh, and the twins Fiachra and Conn. After Aobh dies, Lir marries her sister Aoife. Aoife grows jealous of his love for the children, and she turns them into swans, laying a curse that they must spend 300 years on Lough Derravaragh, 300 on the Sea of Moyle between Ireland and Scotland, and 300 on the western waters at Inis Gluaire, off the coast of Mayo.
The children keep their human voices and sing in a way that comforts those who hear them. The curse can only be broken when a prince from the north marries a princess from the south, and when they hear the sound of a Christian bell. In the end Saint Mochaomhóg's bell rings and the swans return to human form, but they are now extremely old. They are baptised and die soon afterwards.
The story as we have it is a Christian-era one, and it is a favourite in Irish schools. A memorial to the children stands in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.
| Cycle | Entries here | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| The Mythological Cycle | 21 | The oldest of the four cycles, telling of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the successive invasions of Ireland. |
| The Fenian Cycle | 7 | Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of warriors, the Fianna, set generations after the Ulster Cycle in a world of hunting, romance, and roaming adventure. |
| The Ulster Cycle | 12 | The heroic tales of Conchobar mac Nessa's court at Emain Macha, centered on Cú Chulainn and the great cattle raid of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. |
| The Historical Cycle | 1 | Also the Cycle of the Kings — legendary and semi-legendary tales of Ireland's High Kings, treated by medieval scribes as genuine national history. |