The Tuatha De Danaan were ruled by a king named Bodb Dearg (pronounced boov DEERG), who was not liked by Lir. In an attempt to make peace with Lir and maintain order in his kingdom, Bodb Dearg sent Lir one of his own daughters, Aoibh (pronounced EEV), to marry. Lir and Aoibh had four children, three sons and a daughter named Fionnuala (pronounced fin-NOO-lah). Unfortunately, Aoibh died, and Bodb, wanting to ease Lir’s sadness, sent another one of his daughters to marry Lir and serve as the mother of his four children. This daughter, Aoife (pronounced EE-fah), was a cunning young woman well-versed in the arts of magic.
Aoife was jealous of the family bond between Lir and his children, and began plotting a way to get rid of the youngsters. After a plan to murder them failed, Aoife used her skills with magic to transform the children into swans. According to the spell, the children had to remain as swans for nine hundred years, spending three hundred years in each of three different places on or near the water. They would not change back into human form until church bells rang out in announcement of the coming of God.
When Aoife’s father Bodb discovered what she had done, he turned her into a demon as punishment. The children spent three centuries at each of the required locations, and afterward were taken in at a monastery where they were chained together and protected by a monk named Mochua (pronounced MUK-oo-uh). When a local queen found out about the swans, she convinced her husband to attack the monastery and take the swans for her. After they were captured, the church bells rang out, transforming the swans back into children. Because so many centuries had passed, however, the children aged quickly and soon died. Soon after, the rest of the Tuatha De Danaan also died out, and a new race ruled the land.
World History
