Lady Augusta Gregory

by Irish Myths

  not give for all your whole kingdom one night of the nights of

  the Sidhe."

  With that Laegaire turned from them, and went back to the

  kingdom. And he was made king there along with Fiachna, son of

  Betach, and his daughter, and he did not come out of it yet.

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  THE FATE OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR

  Now at the time when the Tuatha de Danaan chose a king for

  themselves after the battle of Tailltin, and Lir heard the kingship

  was given to Bodb Dearg, it did not please him, and he left the

  gathering without leave and with no word to any one; for he

  thought it was he himself had a right to be made king. But if he

  went away himself, Bodb was given the kingship none the less,

  for not one of the five begrudged it to him but only Lir. And it is

  what they determined, to follow after Lir, and to bum down his

  house, and to attack himself with spear and sword, on account of

  his not giving obedience to the king they had chosen. "We will

  not do that," said Bodb Dearg, "for that man would defend any

  place he is in; and besides that," he said, "I am none the less king

  over the Tuatha de Danaan, although he does not submit to me. "

  All went on like that for a good while, but a t last a great misfortune came on Lir; for his wife died from him after a sickness of three nights. And that came very hard on Lir, and there was heaviness on his mind after her. And there was great talk of the death of that woman in her own time.

  And the news of it was told all through Ireland, and it came to

  the house of Bodb, and the best of the Men of Dea were with him

  at that time. And Bodb said: "If Lir had a mind for it," he said,

  "my help and my friendship would be good for him now, since

  his wife is not living to him. For I have here with me the three

  young girls of the best shape, and the best appearance, and the

  best name in all Ireland, Aobh, Aoife , and Ailbhe , the three

  daughters of Oilell of Aran, my own three nurselings. " The Men

  of Dea, said then it was a good thought he had, and that what he

  said was true.

  Messages and messengers were sent then from Bodb Dearg to

  the place Lir was, to say that if he had a mind to join with the Son

  of the Dagda and to acknowledge his lordship, he would give him

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  a foster-child of his foster-children. And Lir thought well of the

  offer, and he set out on the morrow with fifty chariots from Sidhe

  Fionnachaidh; and he went by every short way till he came to

  Bodb's dwelling-place at Loch Dearg, and there was a welcome

  before him there, and all the people were merry and pleasant

  before him, and he and his people got good attendance that night.

  And the three daughters of Oilell of Aran were sitting on the

  one seat with Bodb Dearg's wife , the queen of the Tuatha de

  Danaan, that was their foster-mother. And Bodb said: "You may

  have your choice of the three young girls, Lir. " "I cannot say," said

  Lir, "which one of them is my choice, but whichever of them is

  the eldest, she is the noblest, and it is best for me to take her. " "If

  that is so," said Bodb, "it is Aobh is the eldest, and she will be

  given to you, if it is your wish." "It is my wish," he said. And he

  took Aobh for his wife that night, and he stopped there for a fortnight, and then he brought her away to his own house, till he would make a great wedding-feast.

  And in the course of time Aobh brought forth two children, a

  daughter and a son, Fionnuala and Aodh their names were. And

  after a while she was brought to bed again, and this time she gave

  birth to two sons, and they called them Fiachra and Conn. And

  she herself died at their birth. And that weighed very heavy on

  Lir, and only for the way his mind was set on his four children he

  would have gone near to die of grief.

  The news came to Bodb Dearg's place, and all the people gave

  out three loud, high cries, keening their nursling. And after they

  had keened her it is what Bodb Dearg said: "It is a fret to us our

  daughter to have died, for her own sake and for the sake of the

  good man we gave her to , for we are thankful for his friendship and his faithfulness. However," he said, "our friendship with one another will not be broken, for I will give him for a wife her

  sister Ao if e."

  When Lir heard that, he came for the girl and married her, and

  brought her home to his house. And there was honour and affection with Aoife for her sister's children; and indeed no person at all

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  147

  could see those four children without giving them the heart's love.

  And Bodb Dearg used often to be going to Lir's house for the

  sake of those children; and he used to bring them to his own place

  for a good length of time, and then he would let them go back to

  their own place again. And the Men of Dea were at that time using

  the Feast of Age in every hill of the Sidhe in tum; and when they

  came to Ur's hill those four children were their joy and delight, for

  the beauty of their appearance; and it is where they used to sleep,

  in beds in sight of their father Lir. And he used to rise up at the

  break of every morning, and to lie down among his children.

  But it is what came of all this, that a fire of jealousy was kindled in Aoife, and she got to have a dislike and a hatred of her sisters children.

  Then she let on to have a sickness, that lasted through nearly

  the length of a year. And the end of that time she did a deed of

  jealousy and cruel treachery against the children of Lir.

  And one day she got her chariot yoked, and she took the four

  children in it, and they went forward towards the house of Bodb

  Dearg; but Fionnuala had no mind to go with her, for she knew

  by her she had some plan for their death or their destruction, and

  she had seen in a dream that there was treachery against them in

  Aoife's mind. But all the same she was not able to escape from

  what was before her.

  And when they were on their way Aoife said to her people:

  "Let you kill now," she said, "the four children of Lir, for whose

  sake their father has given up my love, and I will give you your

  own choice of a reward out of all the good things of the world."

  "We will not do that indeed," said they; "and it is a bad deed you

  have thought of, and harm will come to you out of it. "

  And when they would not do as she bade them, she took out a

  sword herself to put an end to the children with; but she being a

  woman and with no good courage, and with no great strength in

  her mind, she was not able to do it.

  They went on then west to Loch Dairbhreach, the Lake of

  the Oaks, and the horses were stopped there. And Aoife bade the

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  children of Lir to go out and bathe in the lake, and they did as she

  bade them. And as soon as Aoife saw them out in the lake she

  struck them with a Druid rod, and put on them the shape of four

  swans, white and beautiful. And it is what she said: "Out with

  you, children of the king, your luck is taken away from you for

  eve
r; it is sorrowful the story will be to your friends; it is with

  flocks of birds your cries will be heard for ever."

  And Fionnuala said: "Witch, we know now what your name

  is, you have struck us down with no hope of relief; but although

  you put us from wave to wave, there are times when we will

  touch the land. We shall get help when we are seen; help, and all

  that is best for us; even though we have to sleep upon the lake, it

  is our minds will be going abroad early. "

  And then the four children of Lir turned towards Aoife, and it

  is what Fionnuala said: "It is a bad deed you have done, Aoife,

  and it is a bad fulfilling of friendship, you to destroy us without

  cause; and vengeance for it will come upon you, and you will fall

  in satisfaction for it, for your power for our destruction is not

  greater than the power of our friends to avenge it on you; and put

  some bounds now," she said, "to the time this enchantment is to

  stop on us." "I will do that," said Aoife, "and it is worse for you,

  you to have asked it of me. And the bounds I set to your time are

  this till the Woman from the South and the Man from the North

  will come together. And since you ask to hear it of me," she said,

  "no friends and no power that you have will be able to bring you

  out of these shapes you are in through the length of your lives,

  until you have been three hundred years on Loch Dairbhreach,

  and three hundred years on Sruth na Maoile between Ireland and

  Alban, and three hundred years at Irrus Domnann and Inis Gluaire; and these are to be your journeys from this out," she said.

  But then repentance came on Aoife, and she said, "Since there

  is no other help for me to give you now, you may keep your own

  speech; and you will be singing sweet music of the Sidhe, that

  would put the men of the earth to sleep, and there will be no

  music in the world equal to it; and your own sense and your own

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  nobility will stay with you, the way it will not weigh so heavy on

  you to be in the shape of birds. And go away out of my sight now,

  children of Lir," she said, "with your white faces, with your stammering Irish. It is a great curse on tender lads, they to be driven out on the rough wind. Nine hundred years to be on the water, it

  is a long time for any one to be in pain; it is I put this on you

  through treachery, it is best for you to do as I tell you now.

  "Lir, that got victory with so many a good cast, his heart is a

  kernel of death in him now; the groaning of the great hero is a

  sickness to me, though it is I that have well earned his anger."

  And then the horses were caught for Aoife, and the chariot

  yoked for her, and she went on to the palace of Bodb Dearg, and

  there was a welcome before her from the chief people of the

  palace. And the son of the Dagda asked her why she did not bring

  the children of Lir with her. "I will tell you that," she said. "It is

  because Lir has no liking for you, and he will not trust you with

  his children, for fear you might keep them from him altogether."

  "I wonder at that," said Bodb Dearg, "for those children are

  dearer to me than my own children." And he thought in his own

  mind it was deceit the woman was doing on him, and it is what

  he did, he sent messengers to the north to Sidhe Fionnachaidh.

  And Lir asked them what did they come for. "On the head of your

  children," said they. "Are they not gone to you along with Aoife?"

  he said. "They are not," said they; "and Aoife said it was yourself

  would not let them come."

  It is downhearted and sorrowful Lir was at that news, for he

  understood well it was Aoife had destroyed or made an end of his

  children. And early in the morning of the morrow his horses were

  caught, and he set out on the road to the south-west. And when

  he was as far as the shore of Loch Dairbhreach, the four children

  saw the horses coming towards them, and it is what Fionnuala

  said: "A welcome to the troop of horses I see coming near to the

  lake; the people they are bringing are strong, there is sadness on

  them; it is us they are following, it is for us they are looking; let

  us move over to the shore, Aodh, Fiachra, and comely Conn.

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  Those that are coming can be no others in the world but only Lir

  and his household."

  Then Lir came to the edge of the lake, and he took notice of

  the swans having the voice of living people, and he asked them

  why was it they had that voice.

  "I will tell you that, Lir," said Fionnuala. "We are your own

  four children, that are after being destroyed by your wife, and by

  the sister of our own mother, through the dint of her jealousy. " "Is

  there any way to put you into your own shapes again?" said Lir.

  "There is no way," said Fionnuala, "for all the men of the world

  could not help us till we have gone through our time, and that

  will not be," she said, "till the end of nine hundred years. "

  When Lir and his people heard that, they gave out three great

  heavy shouts of grief and sorrow and crying.

  "Is there a mind with you," said Lir, "to come to us on the land,

  since you have your own sense and your memory yet?" "We have

  not the power," said Fionnuala, "to live with any person at all

  from this time; but we have our own language, the Irish, and we

  have the power to sing sweet music, and it is enough to satisfy the

  whole race of men to be listening to that music. And let you stop

  here to-night," she said, "and we will be making music for you."

  So Lir and his people stopped there listening to the music of the

  swans, and they slept there quietly that night. And Lir rose up early

  on the morning of the morrow and he made this complaint:-

  " It is time to go out from this place. I do not sleep though I am

  in my lying down. To be parted from my dear children, it is that is

  tormenting my heart.

  "It is a bad net I put over you, bringing Aoife, daughter of

  Oilell of Aran, to the house. I would never have followed that

  advice if I had known what it would bring upon me.

  "O Fionnuala, and comely Conn, 0 Aodh, 0 Fiachra of the

  beautiful arms; it is not ready I am to go away from you, from the

  border of the harbour where you are."

  Then Lir went on to the palace of Bodb Dearg, and there was a

  welcome before him there; and he got a reproach from Bodb

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  Dearg for not bringing his children along with him. "My grief! "

  said Lir. "It is not I that would not bring my children along with

  me; it was Aoife there beyond, your own foster-child and the sister of their mother, that put them in the shape of four white swans of Loch Dairbhreach, in the sight of the whole of the men

  of Ireland; but they have their sense with them yet, and their reason, and their voice, and their Irish. "

  Bodb Dearg gave a great start when he heard that, and he

  knew what Lir said was true, and he gave a very sharp reproach to

  Aoife, and he said: "This treachery will be worse for yourself in

  the end, Aoife, than
to the children of Lir. And what shape would

  you yourself think worst of being in? " he said.

  "I would think worst of being a witch of the air," she said. "It

  is into that shape I will put you now," said Bodb. And with that he

  struck her with a Druid wand, and she was turned into a witch

  of the air there and then, and she went away on the wind in that

  shape, and she is in it yet, and will be in it to the end of life

  and time.

  As to Bodb Dearg and the Tuatha de Danaan they came to the

  shore of Loch Dairbhreach, and they made their camp there to be

  listening to the music of the swans.

  And the Sons of the Gael used to be coming no less than the

  Men of Dea to hear them from every part of Ireland, for there

  never was any music or any delight heard in Ireland to compare

  with that music of the swans. And they used to be telling stories,

  and to be talking with the men of Ireland every day, and with

  their teachers and their fellow-pupils and their friends. And every

  night they used to sing very sweet music of the Sidhe; and every

  one that heard that music would sleep sound and quiet whatever

  trouble or long sickness might be on him; for every one that

  heard the music of the birds, it is happy and contented he would

  be after it.

  These two gatherings now of the Tuatha de Danaan and of the

  Sons of the Gael stopped there around Loch Dairbhreach through

  the length of three hundred years. And it is then Fionnuala said to

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  her brothers. "Do you know," she said, "we have spent all we have

  to spend of our time here, but this one night only. "

  And there was great sorrow on the sons of Lir when they

  heard that, for they thought it the same as to be living people

  again, to be talking with their friends and their companions on

  Loch Dairbhreach, in comparison with going on the cold, fretful

  sea of the Maoil in the north.

  And they came early on the morrow to speak with their father

  and with their foster-father, and they bade them farewell, and

  Fionnuala made this complaint:-

  "Farewell to you, Bodb Dearg, the man with whom all knowledge is in pledge. And farewell to our father along with you, Lir of the Hill of the White Field.

  "The time is come, as I think, for us to part from you, 0 pleasant company; my grief it is not on a visit we are going to you.