The Children of Lir (Irish: Oidheadh chloinne Lir) is a legend from Irish mythology. It is a tale from the post-Christianisation period. It mixes magical elements, such as wands and spells, with a Christian message of faith bringing freedom from suffering.
Contents
Naming and manuscripts
Named in Irish as Oidheadh Chlainne Lir, the tale is today often known simply as "The Children of Lir" but the title has also been rendered as The Tragic Story of the Children of Lir or The Fate of the Children of Lir, or, from the earlier title Aided Chlainne Lir, as The Violent Death of the Children of Lir. The English translation should properly be "The Children of Lear", Lir being a genitive, but the mistranslation has become culturally embedded.
In post 18th-century scholarship, the tale has often been grouped with the Oidheadh chloinne Uisnigh ("The Fate of the Children of Uisnigh") and Oidheadh chloinne Tuireann ("The Fate of the Children of Tuireann") as the Trí truagha na sgéalaigheachta, i.e. "The three sorrows of storytelling", also known as "The Three Sorrowful Tales of Erin". Scholar and folklorist Robin Flower has suggested that all three tales may have had a common author sometime in the 14th century, by someone in the circle of the Mac Fhirbhisighs in north-west Connacht. These three tales have been collated and translated from the Irish language into English.
Manuscripts containing early versions of the tales include MS 72.1.38 and MS 72.2.6 at the National Library of Scotland, MS Egerton 164 at the British Library, and MS 24 A 13, and MS E vi 4 at the library of the Royal Irish Academy.
Legend
Based on (Duffy 1883); a point summary is given in Duffy 1883, pp. xv–xvi Numerals refer to those in the point summary and in Duffy's text itself.
The legendary historical setting of the story is the end of the dominion of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Ireland, and the corresponding rise of the Milesians.
[2-9] Bodb Derg was elected king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, to the annoyance of Lir, who felt that he himself should have been chosen; Lir did not swear obedience to the new King, to the annoyance of those who had elected him, causing strife, though Bodb sought to appease them. After some time Lir's wife died—to appease Lir, Bodb gave one of his daughters, Aoibh, to him in marriage. Lir agreed that he would yield the lordship, and form an alliance—ending the strife.
[10-13] Aoibh bore Lir four children: one girl, Fionnghuala, and three sons, Aodh and twins, Fiacra and Conn. After the birth of the twins, Aoibh died, causing great grief to Lir, though he was bolstered by his love for the four children. Bodb then sent another of his daughters, Aoife, to marry Lir, which he accepted happily. The children were a joy both to Lir and to Bodb.
[14-18] After a short while, Aoife became jealous of the affection given to the four stepchildren, and she feigned illness for around a year. One day, she set out in her chariot with the four children, with design to kill them, and called her entourage to slay them, stating that because of them she had lost Lir's love, and promising them rich rewards. However, they would not help, so she drew a sword, but was not able to follow through with the act. Next she took them to Loch Dairbhreach and made them bathe, but once in the water, she cast a spell of metamorphosis in order to transform them into four white swans.
[19-23] Fionnghuala rebuked her, stating that her magic power was not as great as that of their friends to undo the spell, and warned her of the revenge she would face—she asked her to set a limit on the time of the spell. She set a period of three hundred years as a swan on Loch Dairbhreach; three hundred more on Sruth na Maoilé; and three hundred at Iorrus Domnann and Inis Gluairé. She also foretold that by expiration of the period of the spell, Lairgenn (the great-grandson of the King of Connacht), and Deoch (the great-granddaughter of the King of Munster) would be wed. Aoife relented a little and allowed the children to retain the power of speech, stating they would sing plaintive songs without equal, and that they would not be distressed by being in the forms of birds. Aoife then returned to Bodb's court—when he asked why the children were not with her, she claimed that Lir did not trust him with them, but Bodb was suspicious and sent messengers to Lir.
Analysis
Folklorists have supposed a connection between the Irish tale The Children of Lir and tale type ATU 451, "The Maiden who Seeks her Brothers", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index. Joseph Jacobs was of the notion the tale of "The Swan Children" was an independent folktale that was inserted into the Tuatha de Dannan cycle. In the same vein, Dáithí Ó hÓgáin suggested that the tale spread to Ireland from a narrative about "swan-children" that developed in Continental Europe, in the Netherlands.
Adaptations in other media
Classical music
The song Silent O Moyle, Be The Roar of Thy Water (the song of Fionnuala) from Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies, tells the story of the children of Lir.
Irish composer Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer (1882–1957) based his opera Srúth na Maoile (1923) on the legend of the children of Lir.
Irish composer Hamilton Harty (1879–1941) wrote the orchestral tone poem The Children of Lir (1938).
Irish composer Redmond Friel (1907–1979) wrote the music for Joan Denise Moriarty's ballet The Children of Lír, which was performed by the Cork Ballet Company, accompanied by the Cork Symphony Orchestra under Aloys Fleischmann, during the Ballet Week of May 1950 in the Cork Opera House
Irish composer Robert Lamb (born 1931) wrote The Children of Lir (1970), a suite for orchestra, with narrator.
Irish composer Patrick Cassidy (born 1956) wrote The Children of Lir (1991), an oratorio with libretto in the Irish language.
Modern music
Folk-rock group Loudest Whisper recorded an album The Children of Lir based on a stage presentation of the legend in 1973–74.
Folk metal-band Cruachan published a song called "Children of Lir" on their album Folk-Lore in 2002.
Pagan-metal group Primordial wrote a song called "Children of the Harvest" based on the legend.
"Children of Lir" is a song depicting the legend sung by Sora in her album Heartwood.
Mary McLaughlin has an album Daughter of Lír on which there are two songs dealing with this legend, "Fionnuala's Song" and "The Children of Lir".
Sinéad O'Connor's song "A Perfect Indian" from the album Universal Mother contains references to "Lir's children".
Sculpture
A statue of the Children of Lir, created by the sculptor Oisin Kelly and cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry of Florence, Italy, is in the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square in Dublin, Ireland. It symbolises the rebirth of the Irish nation following 900 years of struggle for independence from England and, later, the United Kingdom, much as the swans were "reborn" following 900 years.
Another statue depicting the legend is located in the central triangular green of the village of Castlepollard, County Westmeath, some three-miles northeast of Lough Derravaragh. A plaque outlines the famous story in several languages.
A sculpture of the Children of Lir is situated in Ballycastle, County Antrim, close to the beach on the Sea of Moyle, where the children were cursed to spend 300 years.
Stained Glass
Wilhelmina Geddes (Irish Artist 1887–1955). Stained Glass staircase window of eight panels commissioned by Belfast City Council Libraries, Museums and Art Committee 2 September 1929, completed March 1930. Currently located in the Ulster Museum, Belfast, not on display.
Literature
Patrick Kennedy (folklorist) adapted the tale as The Four Swans in The Bardic Stories of Ireland (1871).
P.W. Joyce (1827–1914) published the tale in his Old Celtic Romances, London: David Nutt, 1879
Douglas Hyde (1860–1949) published a translation in his Three Sorrows of Storytelling, London: Unwin Fisher, 1895
Thomas Wentworth Higginson adapted the legend as The Swan-Children of Lir, in Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic (1898).
The legend was published as The Doom of the Children of Lir in The true annals of fairy-land: the reign of King Herla (1900).
Katharine Tynan, b. 1859 d. 1931, published the poem 'The Children of Lir' in 1907 as part of a collection entitled 'Twenty One Poems by Katharine Tynan: Selected by WB Yeats'.
T.W. Rolleston (1857–1920) included the tale in his Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race, London: Harrap, 1911
The story was retold as The Four White Swans in a 1916 publication.
Walter Hackett wrote a modern retelling of the tale of the Children of Lir in The Swans of Ballycastle, illustrated by Bettina, published by Ariel Books, Farrar, Straus & Young Inc., New York, 1954.
Deirdre Sullivan wrote Savage Her Reply, a version of the fable from the perspective of the stepmother, illustrated by Karen Vaughan, published by Little Island, Poland, 2020.