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~ Irish Folklore ~
Children of Lir Nine hundred years, each child denied Life's revered innocence Yet spell in time come ancient rhyme Thus cast in their defense A song of Swans, awaited long In disenchanted play From jealous spells hath witches done In verse shall wish away Na laetha geal m'oige Bhi siad lan de dhochas An bealach mo a bhi romhan ansin Bhi se i ndan dom go mbeadh me slan No longer take of creature's flight Turn feathered downs to warm As one by one, come dreamy eyes Now rise in mortal form ~ Translation of the Gaelic stanza ~ The great days of my youth They were full of expectation The great journey that was before me then Happiness was in store for me. My rendition of what all this particular Irish folklore here I'm on about really entails –
Once upon a rhyme ago, Erin allowed King Lir to dwell amidst her beautiful Poetic grace. He and his four children, Fionnuala, Aodh and his twin boys Fiachra and Conn were once happy. Well, happy enough I suppose; I mean, this tale does spin from Ireland; yer know? Meaning, when King Lir's wife died, he and his children missed her terribly. So sad were this king and his little babies. The children however did find solace when each night, they would relive the stories their mother had spun fer them to dream. For the sake of the children, (Himself), Lir agreed to marry her (bitch) sister Aoife. Aoife was jealous of the four children, and because Lir loved them dearly, and she did not, she wanted the children gone. (See, I tol' yer she was a bitch.)
Aoife, having required to acquire the power of witchcraft in order to make her way through life, had asked the children one day to go with her to Lough Dairbhreach, (Under non-swan transformational pretenses, I’m sure.) Where upon casting her spell had turned King Lir’s children into four beautiful swans. Her spell was to last 900 years. Aoife was kind enough tho' to allow the swans (Her victims of jealousy) to keep their voices to talk and sing. One day the children heard church bells ringing and when they found their way to the church, were met by St. Caomhog. He took being approached by talking swans pretty good I suppose. Even offered to give them holy sanctuary until Jesus was able to process his swan/children transformation request he'd submitted on their behalf.
Meanwhile, the wife of the King of Connaught ordered her husband to bring the beautiful singing Children of Lir to her so she could have them as her own.When the King found the children, St. Caomhog refused to give them up. (Cos that's what friends do.) Yet when the king was met with this resistance, became very angry and grabbed the children. (Cos I guess that's just what angry kings do.) And as soon as he touched the children... the spell was broken. But this spell was broken in Ireland mind yer.
So...Alas! They turned into withered old people. And they lived happily ever after. Yer know, since St. Caomhog baptized them before their dying just shortly thereafter.
The End. |
