The Children of Lir
Jan. 21st, 2026 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mystical_mountain_9Maybe I am hopelessly old-fashioned but throughout my life I have found ancient legends and myths to be far more appealing than even the best fiction written within the past few centuries. At first glance these ancient tales may seem to be quaint: similes, metaphors and even themes are odd or even exotic; character development is often weak or entirely absent; and names of places, rulers and heroes are entirely unfamiliar. Sometimes, stripped of all the frills associated with traditional storytelling, the message is extremely simple, perhaps even common. And then there’s the fantastic details: wizards and sorcerers, monsters and fairies, gods and transmogrifications, hermits, healers, heroes and the like: how to suspend disbelief – the key for enjoying fiction – when disbelief can’t even get off the runway? Isn’t this the kind of stuff to read to children under ten years of age, if at all? What’s there to appreciate in all this primitive mumbo-jumbo?
For some oddballs, yours truly included, these old stories resonate at a level that literary critics simply cannot feel, and most ‘modern’ people have been desensitized to. When I read these ancient myths, I am entertained by the creative fantastic details and appreciate the timeless wisdom that is embedded in them like jewels buried deep in the ground. These are the stories that have lasted centuries or sometimes even millennia: this is a testament to their inherent value. To ignore or sensor these legends is to diminish our own humanity.
Legends and myths from some parts of the world appeal to me more than others. I find the ancient Greek myths to be fascinating but somehow, they do not touch my heart. Myths and legends of my Celtic ancestors, on the other hand, set my heart ablaze, as I see in them the faint outlines of values and beliefs that my parents passed, unknowingly, to me and my sisters. When I read many of the old stories of Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Wales, Southwest England, Brittany, and The Isle of Mann, I better appreciate the world view that was passed down to me, as the origins of that view and its values are present in these age-old myths. I am therefore thankful for the countless generations (names and faces that have been long forgotten and too numerous to count) that have passed on these stories as well as embedding the essence of these stories into Celtic culture to this day. I also like the fact that many of the Celtic legends – though they belong to “a long time ago” – are rooted in the physical environment of the people: place names (hills, lakes, islands, kingdoms) are clearly identified and though their names have often been modified in modern parlance, they can still be clearly identified today. To me it is a wonder to be able to point to a familiar feature of one’s landscape and tell an ancient story associated with it. Sadly, I live in a place where foreign invaders nearly wiped the slate clean in terms of legends and place name and the invaders have not lived here long enough to have created its own myths and legends, let alone associate them with a prominent feature of the landscape: I’m sure it will be an entirely different situation on the other side of the dark age that is inevitably coming…
I will therefore, from time to time, share some of my favourite Celtic legends, in abbreviated form. This week it is a legend from Ireland (Éire) known as The Children of Lir. It goes as follows:
In ancient times the Tuatha De Danaan (the gods and goddesses of Ireland) were defeated by the mortal sons of Míle Easpain and were driven from the face of the earth and into the hills until they became fairies. After their defeat the Tuatha De Danaan selected a new king to rule over them; the Bodb Daerg, son of the former king, was chosen.
Bodb Daerg had to select an appropriate hill for each god and goddess to dwell in. For Lir, the god of the ocean, he selected Sídh Fionnachaidh (now known as Deadman’s Hill, in County Armagh). Lir was angry that he had not been selected king by his peers, and consequently he refused to either talk to others or show respect to Bodb Daerg. The Bodb Daerg decided to visit Lir only after his anger had cooled down – but before Lir’s anger had subsided, his wife suddenly died. When Bodb Daerg heard about this, he went to Lir to offer his condolences. He also made an offer to Lir: if one of his stepdaughters were to marry Lir, in return, Lir would accept Bodb Daerg as king. Lir agreed to the proposal.
The Bodb Daerg had three stepdaughters: Naimh (“dark and pale”), Aoife (“red-haired and cream-skinned”) and Aobh (“fair and bright”). All of them were smart, accomplished and most beautiful. When Lir approached the royal palace by chariot, all were happy to see him. Lir accepted Aobh – the youngest step-daughter – as his wife.
Aobh gave birth to two sets of twins. The first pair was a boy named Aodh (“fire”) and a girl named Fionnghuala (“fair-shouldered”); the second pair were boys, who were named Fiachra (“battle king”) and Conn (“wisdom”). Aobh died in giving birth to the second set of twins.
The Bodb Daerg encouraged Lir to marry another of his step-daughters. Lir agreed. This time he chose Aoife. However, she bore no children after several years of marriage, and gradually Aoife became jealous of her sister’s children. And her jealousy hardened into malice.
One day, Aoife asked the children to accompany her on a visit to their grandfather, Bodb Daerg. The children set out, along with Aoife and her personal attendants. On the night that they camped en route, Aoife tried to cajole one servant after another to kill the children, but all of them refused. Aoife decided to kill the children herself while they were sleeping, but when the time came to act, she could not do it.
The next morning, Aoife got the children to bathe in Loch Dairbhreach. While they were bathing, she touched them with her wand and all four children turned into swans! But Aoife’s evil spell was not entirely successful: while their physical forms had changed to swans, the four children of Lir could still speak like humans! Aoife then cursed them to spend three hundred years on Loch Dairbhreadh (modern name Lough Derravaragh), three hundred years on Sruth na Maoile (modern name Straits of Moyle), and another three hundred years off Iorass Domhnann (modern name Dingle Peninsula). The curse would only be broken when a Prince of Connacht marries a Princess of Mumhan (modern name Munster). As Aoife left, the four swans sang a lament for their father, Lir.
When Aoife met Bodb Daerg he asked her why the children were not present. She told Bodb Daerg a clever lie that made it seem that Lir had forbidden it. The Bodb Daerg was suspicious of the reason Aoife gave him, and so he sent a message to Lir asking him if he had forbidden the children to come. As soon as he received this message, Lir set out to find his four children and ended up camping on Loch Dairbhreach. The four swans saw their father and together they sang a sad song. Lir recognized their voices and found out from them about Aoife’s curse.
With a heavy heart, Lir left the swans and went straight to the palace of Bodb Daerg. In Bodb Daerg’s presence Lir stated what Aoife had done. The Bodb Daerg summoned Aoife and asked her what she most abhors. Aoife replied: “the blood-drinking raven of Mórrigán, goddess of war.” The Bodb Daerg cursed Aoife to become the raven and she transformed into it then and there. After that, the Bodb Daerg, Lir, all the Tuatha De Danaan, the sons of Míle Easpain, and all the people of Éire came to the lake and encamped there. The encampment became permanent and the crowds kept the children of Lir company for three hundred years.
But finally, in accordance with Aoife’s curse, the children of Lir had to leave their father and all the others. Everybody was sad, as none were loved more than the children of Lir.
Alighting at the Sruth na Maoile, the four swans were constantly tossed by the stormy seas. At one point a terrible storm nearly separated them. Eventually they found a cave in neighbouring Alba (Scotland) to take shelter in during the bad weather. One day the children saw a great procession at the mouth of the river Bann and recognized at the head of the procession the two sons of Bodb Daerg. They met and the two sons invited the swans to a feat at Lir’s Sídh. But the swans had to refuse, as per the curse, and they sang a lament requesting that it be recited to their father.
Finally, the three hundred years at Sruth na Maoile finished and the children of Lir set out to Iorass Domhnann – the westernmost point of Éireann. There they suffered the pounding waves of the Atlantic against the rocky shores, but they sang songs to keep their spirits up. A young local fisherman, by name of Aifraic, was a poet at heart and he listened the swan’s beautiful songs. He told his neighbours about the swans and their story. And the story spread throughout the kingdom of Connacht, where it became legend.
The icy winters at Iorass Domhnann brought the four children of Lir close to death. But in the midst of their suffering, Fionnghuala felt a strange, warm feeling within herself: words formed out of this feeling and she sang the great song of Amairgen the Druid, which she taught to her three brothers. The song runs as follows:
I am the wind in the sea
I am the ocean wave
I am the thunderous sea
I am the stag of seven antlers
I am the hawk on the cliff
I am the sunlit dewdrop
I am a delicate flower
I am the raging boar
I am the salmon in the pool
I am the lake in the plain
I am the summit of the arts
I am a valley echoing voices
I am the battle-hardened spearhead
I am the god who inflames desire
Who knows the secrets of the unhewn dolmen?
Who announces the ages of the moon?
Who knows where the sun settles where it sets?
The children of Lir found a great power in the song: it renewed their souls for the remainder of their three hundred years there.
Once the allotted time expired, the children of Lir joyfully headed to Sídh Fionnachaidh (their father’s hill). But when they arrived, they could not find their father or other members of the Tuatha De Danaan; instead, all they found was desolation. Even the names of the gods had been forgotten by the people of Ireland – and gods exist only as long as they are respected and remembered. So, they flew to Connacht to wait for the final condition of their curse’s release: the marriage of the Prince of Connacht to the Princess of Munster. They settled on an island called Inis Gluaire (now called Inishglora) and dwelled there with a gentle hermit named Cháemmóg. The hermit told them of the impending marriage, but there was a condition to the marriage: the princess had to receive as a wedding gift the four famous singing swans. The king of Connacht (named Laidgnén, who ruled Connacht circa 650 AD) got word of the four swans living on Inis Gluaire and went to the island to capture them as per the condition of the wedding. He caught the four swans and placed silver chains around their necks. But as he tried to drag the children of Lir into his boat, their forms changed into four ancient people. The king fell on his knees and begged them to forgive him. They smilingly blessed the king and he departed.
Meanwhile, the princess Dechtine told her brother, King Maenach of Mumhan, about the wedding gift that she had requested. He warned her that such a request mocks the powers of the Underworld and advised her to reconsider. The princess thought about it and repented for making the request.
Now transformed back into human forms (but very aged), the children of Lir told the hermit that they would soon die. They requested him to bury them together on the island, standing upright, and facing each other. The hermit agreed. As the hermit dug their grave, the children of Lir sang their last song. Tightly embracing each other for the final time, they transformed back into the forms they had before being cursed: four radiant children with golden hair and smiling faces. And then they died.
The hermit buried them and placed a sepulchre monument in their honour and engraved their names upon it.
To this day it is said that if people go to the island of Inishglora and listen carefully, they can still hear the beautiful, sad music sung by the four children of Lir.
Yes, it is a tragic story. As many Celtic legends are – for good reason, if you know Celtic history. The sense of a great, glorious past that is now beyond reach is palpable. I feel it myself. In this particular story, you have a very typical tale of a cruel and jealous stepmother. But there is far more to it than that. There is an unfair and unjust curse which, nevertheless, must run its course -- and the swift karma for the person who uttered the curse. There is the long-suffering spirit of the four children of Lir, which is the genesis of their hauntingly beautiful songs. And the power of music to sustain one even in the darkest of times. And there is the kindness of so many others, who sympathize with the unjustly cursed children and love them dearly. Lastly, there is the cultural “death” of the Tuatha De Danaan – the gods and goddesses of pre-Christian Ireland – and so, having lived after all their kind had perished, the children of Lir were doomed to die shortly after the curse was finished. Life isn’t always ‘fair’. But it is what it is; it’s how one takes it that counts. The children of Lir suffered under a curse for close to a millennium – but harboured no bitterness or ill-will to anyone. I think that if I had been living under a curse for 900 years, I’d be at least a little miffed! Perhaps I need to work more on myself, maybe by singing just like the divine children of Lir did.
reminders
Date: 2026-01-23 10:47 am (UTC)Hello Ron.
With an Irish family background I too am interested in legends from this cultural milieu and learnt nothing about them growing up. I once came across a lavishly illustralted children's book of Irish fairy tales... but that was before present fashions. My local library has nothing on the subject now.
That reminds me of a book refernced on one of JMG's blogs a few years ago that looks fascinating and which I have never been able to find, published in 1975: Kingdom of the Night-time, by Nevill Drury, ISBN 0091300002. I have a feeling that you might know something about it?
Re: reminders
Date: 2026-01-23 05:59 pm (UTC)No, I am afraid that I have not come across Drury's book -- though I know he has written quite a lot about magic (which I have not read, BTW). My favourite book on the subject is a recent publication (2022) by the inimitable Peter Berresford Ellis called 'The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends' (ISBN 978-1-84119-248-2) which can be found in most reasonably well-stocked public libraries. It consists of 36 stories from around the Celtic world and includes a much more elaborate (and much better told) version of the Children of Lir story.
Ron M
Re: reminders
Date: 2026-01-24 01:35 am (UTC)Well, I am attempting to turn my public library into a well-stocked one... I have had them buy a few JMG books and just requested purchase of the Ellis :)
Re: reminders
Date: 2026-01-24 03:49 am (UTC)I was brought up in this world by modern people, and even though we descend from a largely Irish/Scottish lineage, my family was and is not amenable to ancient legends, and hardly acknowledged this heritage.
sad.
I, on the other hand, am obsessed with this past, and even though I don't have the temerity to ever claim that my Irish heritage gives me any right to call my self anything but American, I do have a desire to connect with the pathway my people took to get here.
1
Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-09 05:59 pm (UTC)Nice to see your blog! and thank you for this story...
You mentioned the strengthening effect of Amergin's song... but did not mention what it said...
There is a recitation of it here - both in Gaelic and in English... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtVDahOFaLI
Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-10 02:14 pm (UTC)To be honest, I did not consider finding and linking an audio/video version of Amergin's song because I am aware that there is a lot of faux-Celtic stuff out on the "interwebs" and I simply lack the experience or knowledge to effectively separate the wheat from the chaff. And I'd rather not unintentionally expose people to "crap".
That's where team work comes in. I trust 100% anything that you provide that is associated with The Emerald Isle. I plan to share legends of other Celtic peoples before circling back to Eire - but eventually I'll get there.
I will definitely check out the song that you have linked. Again, many thanks!
Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-10 04:39 pm (UTC)The Irish Government funded and organised a remarkable folklore collection project in the 1930's whereby schoolchildren across the country were assigned the task of writing down local lore... and the whole collection is now available online.
Here for example are 8 story results for a search on "swans", together with links to the notebooks on which they were written down in the 1930's.
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/stories?SearchText=swans&SearchLanguage=ga
Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-10 07:04 pm (UTC)If what you have shared is "wee" I dread to think of the scale that would be involved if you were to share something that my grandmother called "mor"!
Many thanks for this. And many thanks to what would now be called the "far-right" 1930s Government of Ireland. I dread to think how much traditional lore and wisdom has been lost in the British Isles over the past couple of centuries, ground to the dust under the juggernaut wheels of "progress" and "social displacement". Thank the gods for having inspired the Irish Government to do the work that is usually reserved for obscure, quirky ethnologists.
I'll definitely take a look!
Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-10 07:17 pm (UTC)Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-10 07:54 pm (UTC)Always a bed and a cuppa for friendly folk! :)
Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-10 08:54 pm (UTC)And, of course, if you suffer a temporary fit of insanity and decide to visit Toronto, you always have a friendly place to stay here. :)
Re: Amergin's Song
Date: 2026-02-11 02:46 pm (UTC)The Incantation of Amergin
Date: 2026-02-15 04:27 pm (UTC)It does not have lyrics showing, but there is a central section rendering the chant in English.
Enjoy.
Re: The Incantation of Amergin
Date: 2026-02-15 08:01 pm (UTC)BTW, I revised my post on the Children of Lir to include the lyrics of the Song of Amergin.
Go raibh maith agat! (I hope I got that right)
Re: The Incantation of Amergin
Date: 2026-02-15 08:10 pm (UTC)I see your revision, and it is good! :)