Irish Animal Folk Tales for Children

by Doreen McBride

  Having people lying sleeping all round the place would have been an untidy nuisance, so the sleeping people were taken to a huge room under the sea and laid gently on beautiful beds until they woke up again.

  The room under the sea was a nice place to wake up. It had floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the sea. That meant you could waken up gradually and lie watching fish swim by until you felt like getting up. (That must have been lovely. I used to hate wakening up because my mum used to shout, ‘Shift your lazy bum!’ as she turned the lights on and pulled the bedclothes off me. It was very annoying!)

  King Lir was King of the Tuthna De Danaan. He had a lovely wife called Eva, and two children, a girl called Fionuala and a boy called Aed. They were happy, or rather they would have been except Eva kept girning that she wanted another baby. Eventually she got her wish and had twin boys, Fiacre and Conn.

  Unfortunately the effort of having two babies at once made her very, very tired, so she went into a deep sleep.

  King Lir was terribly upset. He did a whole lot of big smelly ones, cried his eyes out, lifted Eva up in his arms, carried her down under the sea, laid her tenderly on a beautiful bed and went back to his children. He was miserable when he walked around the white fort where he lived because he kept expecting to hear Eva’s footsteps. Once he thought he heard her laughing but when he rushed towards the noise he found it was Fionuala carrying on with Aed. He was so disappointed he shouted at the children for making a noise. Then he stalked out of the room and banged the door.

  King Lir.

  Fionuala was upset because their father was cross and she burst into tears. Aed said, ‘We weren’t doing any harm. We were just having fun. Our dad doesn’t like us having fun any more. He has a face like a pig’s bum!’

  King Lir heard him and didn’t say anything because he knew he’d been unreasonable. Fionuala was very like her mother. She had long blonde hair, big sea-green eyes, a heart-shaped face and skin like rose petals. Every time King Lir looked at her he remembered his lost wife and felt heartbroken, so he began spending long times away from home.

  Fionuala was left to bring up her baby brothers. She used to cuddle them close to her while Aed stood in front of her and stretched his arms round all three of them and they’d sing together. They’d beautiful voices and all the courtiers loved listening to them.

  When Fionuala was 16 years of age King Lir met Eva’s sister Aefe, fell in love and took her back to live in the White Fort.

  (The Tuthna De Danaan had different laws from our laws. Going to sleep for 1,000 years was thought to be unreasonable behaviour and that made King Lir free to marry Aefe without the nonsense of solicitors and courts and things. The White Fort, also called the White Fields of Armagh, was near the village of Newtownhamilton in County Armagh.)

  At first the children and their stepmother were very happy, then a demon of jealously entered Aefe’s heart. She thought, ‘My husband loves his children more than he loves me. I want rid of them. I want his love all to myself.’ She couldn’t take them out into the woods and kill them because they wouldn’t die. They’d just go to sleep for 1,000 years, wake up and tell everyone what had happened.

  She couldn’t poison them for the same reason, so she put on a face like a Lurgan spade and sat in the corner with her thumb in her mouth, doing wee smelly ones and thinking evil thoughts. She decided the best thing she could do was put a spell on them that turned them into swans.

  ‘That’s a great idea,’ she muttered. ‘There won’t be any bodies lying about and nobody’ll recognise them. I’ll take them down to Lough Derravaragh to have a picnic. They like swimming. Once they’re in the water I’ll cast my spell. Ha! Ha! Ha! I’ll make them spend 300 years on Lough Derravaragh then make them fly up to the Sea of Moyle for another 300 years before spending the last 300 years of my spell on Inis Glora in the Western Sea.

  ‘There’s a strange new religion coming to Ireland. It’s called Christianity. It will change the old beliefs and cause all spells to be broken. I can’t do anything about that! I won’t worry about it. 900 years is probably enough for my purposes.’

  Aefe waited until King Lir had gone out hunting before going to the children and saying, ‘Would you like to go for a picnic? It’s such a beautiful day we could ask Daire [their charioteer] to prepare the chariot with a picnic and take us along the banks of the stream that goes into the lough.

  The Children of Lir.

  ‘You love swimming, don’t you? We could have a dip.’

  The children rarely had the opportunity to get out of the White Fort, so they were delighted. They rushed out to the chariot and jumped in beside Aefe. Daire shook the reins and set off.

  The children sang until they reached the shore, dived into the water and enjoyed splashing each other.

  Aefe smiled bitterly. ‘That’s the last fun you’ll have for nine hundred years,’ she muttered softly. Her face became ugly and threatening. She stood on a rock above the lough and began to cast a spell in the old language belonging to the Formorians. They lived in Ireland before the Tuthna de Danannan arrived. She raised her wand and shrieked:

  And Earth shall not hold thee,

  Fire shall ye fear,

  Water be thy element,

  And that of Air.

  A storm swirled round the lough, the water blazed with such a bright light it hurt the eyes of anyone who saw it and Daire fell to the ground.

  Fionuala screamed. Her brothers appeared to be evaporating, disappearing into a white mist. A sudden agonising pain ripped through her body. She looked down. She was turning into a mist. She fainted, and when she opened her eyes she was a swan. Her brothers had also turned into swans. They snuggled close. ‘What happened?’ asked little Conn.

  ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ laughed Aefe, ‘I wasn’t sure if that would work! I’ve got rid of you. Nobody’ll know what I’ve done. You’re swans for 900 years and anyone who heard my spell will sleep for 1,000 years! Now I’ll have your father’s love all to myself! Ha! Ha! Ha!’

  Little Conn began to cry, ‘I want to go home. I love my daddy.’

  ‘What!’ shrieked Aefe, ‘Do you mean to say you can still feel love? And you can still talk?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Fionuala, ‘I still love my father and you can hear me talking.’

  ‘I don’t suppose your human hearts and voices matter. You’re swans and you’ll be swans for 900 years. Nobody’ll recognise you in your new feathered outfits. Ha! Ha! Ha! You’ll spend 300 years here, 300 years on the Northern Sea and 300 years on the Western Sea. Ha! Ha! Ha!’

  She climbed into the chariot and drove off.

  Fiacre and Conn started to cry, so Fionuala wrapped her wings around them and began to sing. Aed swam over, faced Fionuala and wrapped his wings around his sister and wee brothers.

  Daire got up. He was shaking with rage. ‘That vixen,’ he said, ‘deserves to have her face shoved through the back of her neck!’

  The swans couldn’t help laughing.

  Fionuala asked, ‘Why didn’t the spell work on you? Why didn’t you go to sleep?’

  ‘I’m descended from kings. Evil spells don’t work on me. She just knocked me down and I pretended to be asleep. Stay here and I’ll go and tell your father what’s happened.’

  King Lir was furious with Aefe. He dragged her down to the shores of the lough and demanded she return his children to their normal shape and get out of his sight. He shouted that he never wanted to see her again.

  Aefe burst into tears and tried to undo her spell, but failed.

  King Lir sent for the Red Rob, the most powerful magician in the land, who did his best to break the spell. It was impossible. Red Rob turned towards the courtiers.

  ‘Let this be a warning. Never mess with magic. Aefe’s not a qualified magician. She’s a certain amount of knowledge and that’s a dangerous thing. She’s got the spell slightly wrong. It’s impossible to undo it and the poor children are doomed to be swans for 900 years.’

  Red Rob flew i
nto a rage. ‘Aefe,’ he guldered, ‘You’ve committed an unforgivable crime. I hereby curse you. From hence forth you’ll be without form, a pain-filled spirit in the eye of the hurricane.’

  There was a sudden WSHOOSH, and Aefe gave a blood-curdling shriek and disappeared.

  Conn sobbed, ‘I won’t be able to sleep in my own bed, I can’t play hurling, I can’t eat normal food.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Fionuala comforted, ‘but we should think positively. It could be a lot worse. Think of all the things we can do. We’ve still got our human hearts and voices. Let’s cheer ourselves up by singing.’ The others agreed so they sang ancient Irish airs and the courtiers clapped and cheered.

  King Lir said, ‘I hereby issue a decree that killing, or attempting to kill a swan is against the law.’ (In this country it’s still against the law to kill swans.)

  The next 300 years passed quickly. King Lir moved his court to the banks of Lough Derravaragh. They had plenty to eat and plenty of company. They amused themselves by singing. You know the old saying, ‘Use it or lose it’, don’t you? The opposite is true. Use it and it gets better. There’s another old saying, ‘Practice makes perfect’. The children’s voices became more beautiful with the passing years and they attracted large and larger audiences. People throughout Ireland heard about them and they became famous, like pop stars today.

  They were reasonably happy, until they felt a strange feeling pulling them towards the North. It got stronger and stronger. It was impossible to ignore.

  King Lir was very upset. ‘That’s Aefe’s spell,’ he said. ‘You can’t escape. You’ll have to go North.’ They kissed him goodbye and were lifted into the air and dragged to the Sea of Moyle, which is around Ireland’s north coast.

  I love the north coast. That’s where you can visit the Giant’s Causeway, the ruins of Dunluce Castle, White Park Bay and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (a bridge, made from ropes that runs between the mainland and an island that is used by fisherman. It’s scary!

  Before I could stop him my son, John, ran halfway across the bridge when he was 8. He looked down and saw waves and rocks a long way below and nearly wet his pants! I had to go and rescue him and I was terrified! The secret is to keep looking ahead and not look down. Of course, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge didn’t exist during the lives of the Children of Lir.)

  The Sea of Moyle is where icy water from the Arctic hits land. It’s very, very cold. The last time I went swimming there I was 12 years of age. I went blue and shivered for half an hour afterwards and decided I was never ever doing that again! And I never have!

  The children were frozen. It’s no fun being a swan and having your legs and bum in cold water! To make matters worse, there was a raging gale when they arrived. They had to struggle against howling wind with towering waves crashing against over them. They became separated.

  Fionuala was lucky. She was blown on to Rathlin Island. That’s a beautiful place in the sea between Ireland and Scotland. (You can visit Rathlin. A ferry runs between Ballycastle and Rathlin, where you can visit a bird sanctuary during the summer months. If you’re lucky you’ll see lots of puffins. They are tiny cute sea birds with peculiar beaks that are brightly coloured during the mating season. The mummy puffin lays one egg and the daddy helps her hatch it. When the baby comes out of its shell it looks like a tiny cream egg!)

  Fionuala found herself beside a huge cave with a large rock across its mouth. She staggered inside. It was dark and comparatively quiet. The rock kept the waves from crashing inside. She was cold, lonely, sore and covered in bruises. She curled up in the corner and cried and cried.

  Next day Fionuala crept to the mouth of the cave and began to sing. Aed heard her and swam towards her voice. They hugged each other. Fionuala asked where he’d been. He said, ‘On the rocks at the Giant’s Causeway! I was lucky I wasn’t hurt. I heard you singing and followed the sound. Let’s sit on that big rock on the outside of the cave and sing. Maybe our brothers will hear us.’

  They sang for hours but there was no sign of their wee brothers. Fionuala became hoarse and Aed flew up into the air to see if he could see any sign of them. He went around in a circle with his eyes scanning the horizon. Suddenly he yelled, ‘Fionuala, I see a tiny white speck! I think I it might be Conn!’

  Fionuala and Aed sat outside the cave and sang louder than ever. The speck came closer. It was Conn! They rushed out to greet him and wrapped their wings round him.

  Conn was so pleased to see them he burst into tears. ‘I was so lonely without you,’ he sobbed, ‘I thought I’d have to spend the next 600 years all by myself. I was blown onto the Mull of Kintyre.’

  The three children sat outside the cave and sang all day but there was no sign of Fiacre. Next day Fionuala said, ‘Aed heard us singing as far away as the Mull of Kintyre. Fiacre must be hurt, or he would have heard our singing and joined us. I think he’s lying somewhere and can’t move. Let’s go and look for him.’

  They swam along Antrim’s coast and searched the Skerries near what is now Portrush. Fiacre wasn’t there. They looked further north. When they reached the place that is now Portstewart they heard a weak cry. They followed the sound and found Fiacre lying on the rocks. He’d a broken wing, a leg fractured in several places and he was badly bruised. He’d have been dead if he hadn’t been a member of the Tuthna da Dannan.

  They used their wings to lift him and carry him to Rathlin.

  The next 300 years were miserable. They missed King Lir and their friends. They were lonely. The winter nights were long and dark, food was scarce and the sea made their bums numb with cold. They missed having human bodies. Conn complained, ‘My feet are freezing and I can’t even fart to warm them up!’ (Birds aren’t like us. We have an opening for wee and another one for poo. Birds only have one opening for both piddle and poo, so they do both jobs in one go and they’re like spiders in that they can’t fart!)

  The children were delighted when they felt themselves being pulled towards the south. They didn’t resist but rose high up into the air and started their long journey.

  Aed, yelled, ‘Yippee! That’s 600 years of the curse done. We’ve only 300 more years before turning back into humans.’

  My enchanted bum’s freezing!

  They burst into tears as they flew over their old home because it had disappeared. There was nothing left apart from grassy banks, and Lough Derravaragh seemed smaller than they remembered. The king and his courtiers had gone for their long sleep. They’d hoped they’d be able to wave at King Lir and their friends.

  Eventually they reached Inish Glora, a small island in a chain containing the larger Achill Island in the Western Sea around County Mayo.

  The Western Sea is part of the Atlantic Ocean, so it’s cold, although people living around that part of the world say it is surprisingly warm! They say it’s influenced by the Gulf Stream, which flows towards the North along the coast. I don’t believe them because I went paddling in it once and thought my feet were going to fall off with the cold! I haven’t been swimming there and am not going to! All I can say is it’s not quite as cold as the Sea of Moyle, and the four swans found life easier there than on Rathlin Island. There was more food and when they sang, all the birds of the air came and joined in. That was fun! Birds still enjoy singing on Inish Glora, so it’s become known as ‘the island of the birds’.

  They had lived on Inish Glora for over 200 years when Kermock the hermit came and set up home on the shore nearby. They were glad to have company, watched him carefully and found him very interesting. Every day he went out on the shore and prayed to a strange new God. Eventually Fionuala became so curious she went up to him and said, ‘What are you doing?’ Kermock was so surprised he jumped, forgot he was a monk, and did a big loud one!

  Fionuala said, ‘Please don’t be frightened. Have you ever heard of the Children of Lir?’ Kermock said he’d heard an ancient tale about four children being turned into swans by a wicked spell but he hadn’t paid much attention to it.


  Fionuala explained that she was one of the children and introduced her brothers, and they became firm friends. Kermock gave them food and they helped him find wood to construct a strange building that looked like an upturned boat. He explained they were building one of the first Christian churches in Ireland and he was expecting a visit from a very holy man called St Patrick.

  Aed asked, ‘What’s Christian?’

  Kermock replied, ‘It’s a new religion. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The new religion’s called Christianity after Him. He came down from heaven to tell us that God loves each one of us.’

  Fiacre got excited and began jumping up and down while beating his wings, ‘Goody! Goody! Goody!’ he yelled, ‘Do you remember Aefe said we’d be released from her spell after 900 years when a new religion came to Ireland? I’ve lost count of time but we must have done about 900 years. We’ve been swans for a long time!’

  Kermock asked, ‘If you get your human bodies back again what’s the first thing you’re going to do?’

  Fionuala said, ‘I’m going to have a long drink of nice cold water from the spring near your church.’

  The others agreed and Kermock asked, ‘What’s so special about drinking water from the well?’

  Conn said, ‘We don’t know why, but we can’t put our heads down, have a slug of water and swallow it. We have to pick water up with our beaks, point our heads straight up in the air and let it run down our throats. It’s a nuisance.’

  (He’s right! Drinking is much easier for humans than birds. We could stand on our heads and drink water. I don’t suggest you do that but you could bend over a stool, pick a glass of water up off the floor and see if you can drink it. You have strong muscles that can push water up your gullet (peristalsis) so you can drink it against the pull of gravity. Birds can’t do that. Watch a bird having a drink. Did you see how it took a sip, then straightened its neck so its beak pointed into the air above its head and the water could run down its throat?)