Lady Augusta Gregory
Page 21
"From this day out, 0 friends of our heart, our comrades, it is
on the tormented course of the Maoil we will be, without the
voice of any person near us.
"Three hundred years there, and three hundred years in the
bay of the men of Domnann, it is a pity for the four comely children of Lir, the salt waves of the sea to be their covering by night.
"O three brothers, with the ruddy faces gone from you, let
them all leave the lake now, the great troop that loved us, it is sorrowful our parting is. "
After that complaint they took to flight, lightly, airily, till they
came to Sruth na Maoile between Ireland and Alban. And that
was a grief to the men of Ireland, and they gave out an order no
swan was to be killed from that out, whatever chance there might
be of killing one, all through Ireland.
It was a bad dwelling-place for the children of Lir they to be
on Sruth na Maoile. When they saw the wide coast about them,
they were filled with cold and with sorrow, and they thought
nothing of all they had gone through before, in comparison to
what they were going through on that sea.
Now one night while they were there a great storm came on
THE FATE OF THE CHILDREN OF UR
1 53
them, and it is what Fionnuala said: "My dear brothers," she said,
"it is a pity for us not to be making ready for this night, for it is
certain the storm will separate us from one another. And let us,"
she said, "settle on some place where we can meet afterwards, if
we are driven from one another in the night. "
"Let us settle," said the others, "to meet one another at Carraig
na Ron, the Rock of the Seals, for we all have knowledge of it. "
And when midnight came, the wind came on them with it,
and the noise of the waves increased, and the lightning was flashing, and a rough storm came sweeping down , the way the children of Lir were scattered over the great sea, and the wideness
of it set them astray, so that no one of them could know what way
the others went. But after that storm a great quiet came on the
sea, and Fionnuala was alone on Sruth na Maoile; and when she
took notice that her brothers were wanting she was lamenting
after them greatly, and she made this complaint:-
"It is a pity for me to be alive in the state I am; it is frozen to
my sides my wings are; it is little that the wind has not broken my
heart in my body, with the loss of Aodh.
"To be three hundred years on Loch Dairbhreach without
going into my own shape, it is worse to me the time I am on
Sruth na Maoile.
"The three I loved, Och ! the three I loved, that slept under the
shelter of my feathers; till the dead come back to the living I will
see them no more for ever.
"It is a pity I to stay after Fiachra, and after Aodh, and after
comely Conn, and with no account of them; my grief I to be here
to face every hardship this night."
She stopped all night there upon the Rock of the Seals until
the rising of the sun, looking out over the sea on every side till at
last she saw Conn coming to her, his feathers wet through and his
head hanging, and her heart gave him a great welcome; and then
Fiachra came wet and perished and worn out, and he could not
say a word they could understand with the dint of the cold and
the hardship he had gone through. And Fionnuala put him under
1 54
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
her wings, and she said: "We would be well off now if Aodh
would but come to us."
It was not long after that, they saw Aodh coming, his head dry
and his feathers beautiful, and Fionnuala gave him a great welcome, and she put him in under the feathers of her breast, and Fiachra under her right wing and Conn under her left wing, the
way she could put her feathers over them all. "And Och ! my
brothers," she said, "this was a bad night to us, and it is many of
its like are before us from this out."
They stayed there a long time after that, suffering cold and
misery on the Maoil, till at last a night came on them they had
never known the like of before, for frost and snow and wind and
cold. And they were crying and lamenting the hardship of their
life, and the cold of the night and the greatness of the snow and
the hardness of the wind. And after they had suffered cold to the
end of a year, a worse night again came on them, in the middle of
winter. And they were on Carraig na Ron, and the water froze
about them, and as they rested on the rock, their feet and their
wings and their feathers froze to the rock, the way they were not
able to move from it. And they made such a hard struggle to get
away, that they left the skin of their feet and their feathers and the
tops of their wings on the rock after them.
"My grief, children of Lir," said Fionnuala, "it is bad our state is
now, for we cannot bear the salt water to touch us, and there are
bonds on us not to leave it; and if the salt water goes into our sores,"
she said, "we will get our death. " And she made this complaint:-
" It is keening we are to-night; without feathers to cover our
bodies; it is cold the rough, uneven rocks are under our bare feet.
"It is bad our stepmother was to us the time she played enchantments on us, sending us out like swans upon the sea.
"Our washing place is on the ridge of the bay, in the foam of
flying manes of the sea; our share of the ale feast is the salt water
of the blue tide.
"One daughter and three sons; it is in the clefts of the rocks we
are; it is on the hard rocks we are, it is a pity the way we are."
THE FATE OF THE CHILDREN OF UR
1 55
However, they came on to the course of the Maoil again, and
the salt water was sharp and rough and bitter to them, but if it
was itself, they were not able to avoid it or to get shelter from it.
And they were there by the shore under that hardship till such
time as their feathers grew again, and their wings, and till their
sores were entirely healed. And then they used to go every day to
the shore of Ireland or of Alban, but they had to come back to
Sruth na Maoile every night.
Now they came one day to the mouth of the Banna, to the
north of Ireland, and they saw a troop of riders, beautiful, of one
colour, with well-trained pure white horses under them, and they
travelling the road straight from the south-west.
"Do you know who those riders are, sons of Lir?" said Fionnuala.
"We do not," they said; "but it is likely they might be some
troop of the Sons of the Gael, or of the Tuatha de Danaan. "
They moved over closer to the shore then, that they might
know who they were, and when the riders saw them they came to
meet them until they were able to hold talk together.
And the chief men among them were two sons of Bodb Dearg,
Aodh Aithfhiosach, of the quick wits, and Fergus Fithchiollach,
of the chess, and a third part of the Riders of the Sidhe along with
them, and it was for the swans they had been looking for a long
while before that, and when they came together they wished one
ano
ther a kind and loving welcome.
And the children of Lir asked for news of all the Men of Dea,
and above all of Lir, and Bodb Dearg and their people.
"They are well, and they are in the one place together," said
they, "in your father's house at Sidhe Fionnachaidh, using the
Feast of Age pleasantly and happily, and with no uneasiness on
them, only for being without yourselves, and without knowledge
of what happened you from the day you left Loch Dairbhreach."
"That has not been the way with us," said Fionnuala, "for we
have gone through great hardship and uneasiness and misery on
the tides of the sea until this day. "
And she made this complaint:-
1 56
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
"There is delight to-night with the household of Lir! Plenty of
ale with them and of wine, although it is in a cold dwelling-place
this night are the four children of the king.
"It is without a spot our bedclothes are, our bodies covered
over with curved feathers; but it is often we are dressed in purple,
and we drinking pleasant mead.
"It is what our food is and our drink, the white sand and the
bitter water of the sea; it is often we drank mead of hazel-nuts
from round four-lipped drinking cups.
"It is what our beds are, bare rocks out of the power of the
waves; it is often there used to be spread out for us beds of the
breast-feathers of birds.
"Though it is our work now to be swimming through the frost
and through the noise of the waves, it is often a company of the
sons of kings were riding after us to the Hill of Bodb.
"It is what wasted my strength, to be going and coming over
the current of the Maoil the way I never was used to, and never to
be in the sunshine on the soft grass.
"Fiachra's bed and Conn's bed is to come under the cover of
my wings on the sea. Aodh has his place under the feathers of my
breast, the four of us side by side.
"The teaching of Manannan without deceit, the talk of Bodb
Dearg on the pleasant ridge; the voice of Angus, his sweet kisses;
it is by their side I used to be without grief. "
After that the riders went on to Lir's house, and they told the
chief men of the Tuatha de Danaan all the birds had gone through,
and the state they were in. "We have no power over them," the
chief men said, "but we are glad they are living yet, for they will
get help in the end of time."
As to the children of Lir, they went back towards their old
place in the Maoil, and they stopped there till the time they had
to spend in it was spent. And then Fionnuala said; "The time is
come for us to leave this place. And it is to Irrus Domnann we
must go now," she said, "after our three hundred years here. And
indeed there will be no rest for us there, or any standing ground,
THE FATE OF THE CHILDREN OF UR
1 57
or any shelter from the storms. But since it is time for us to go, let
us set out on the cold wind, the way we will not go astray. "
So they set out in that way, and left Sruth na Maoile behind
them, and went to the point of Irrus Domnann, and there they
stopped, and it is a life of misery and a cold life they led there. And
one time the sea froze about them that they could not move at all,
and the brothers were lamenting, and Fionnuala was comforting
them, for she knew there would help come to them in the end.
And they stayed at Irrus Domnann till the time they had to
spend there was spent. And then Fionnuala said: "The time is
come for us to go back to Sidhe Fionnachaidh, where our father is
with his household and with all our own people. "
"It pleases us well to hear that," they said.
So they set out flying through the air lightly till they came to
Sidhe Fionnachaidh; and it is how they found the place, empty
before them, and nothing in it but green hillocks and thickets of
nettles, without a house, without a fire, without a hearthstone.
And the four pressed close to one another then, and they gave out
three sorrowful cries, and Fionnuala made this complaint:-
"It is a wonder to me this place is, and it without a house,
without a dwelling-place. To see it the way it is now, Ochone ! it is
bitterness to my heart.
"Without dogs, without hounds for hunting, without men,
without great kings; we never knew it to be like this when our
father was in it.
"Without horns, without cups, without drinking in the lighted
house; without young men, without riders; the way it is to-night
is a foretelling of sorrow.
"The people of the place to be as they are now, Ochone ! it is
grief to my heart! It is plain to my mind to-night the lord of the
house is not living.
"Och, the house where we used to see music and playing and
the gathering of people ! I think it a great change to see it lonely
the way it is to-night.
"The greatness of the hardships we have gone through going
1 58
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
from one wave to another of the sea, we never heard of the like of
them coming on any other person.
"It is seldom this place had its part with grass and bushes; the
man is not living that would know us, it would be a wonder to
him to see us here."
However, the children of Lir stopped that night in their father's
place and their grandfather's, where they had been reared, and
they were singing very sweet music of the Sidhe. And they rose
up early on the morning of the morrow and went to Inis Gluaire,
and all the birds of the country gathered near them on Loch na-n
Ean, the Lake of the Birds. And they used to go out to feed every
day to the far parts of the country, to Inis Geadh and to Accuill,
the place Donn, son of Miled, and his people that were drowned
were buried, and to all the western islands of Connacht, and they
used to go back to Inis Gluaire every night.
It was about that time it happened them to meet with a young
man of good race, and his name was Aibric; and he often took
notice of the birds, and their singing was sweet to him and he
loved them greatly, and they loved him. And it is this young man
that told the whole story of all that had happened them, and put
it in order.
And the story he told of what happened them in the end is this.
It was after the faith of Christ and blessed Patrick came into
Ireland, that Saint Mochaomhog came to Inis Gluaire. And the
first night he came to the island, the children of Lir heard the
voice of his bell, ringing near them. And the brothers started up
with fright when they heard it. "We do not know," they said,
"what is that weak, unpleasing voice we hear."
"That is the voice of the bell of Mochaomhog," said Fionnuala;
"and it is through that bell," she said "you will be set free from
pain and from misery. "
They listened to that music of the bell till the matins were
done, and then they began to sing the low, sweet music of the
Sidhe.
THE FATE OF T
HE CHILDREN OF UR
1 59
And Mochaomhog was listening to them, and he prayed to
God to show him who was singing that music, and it was showed
to him that the children of Lir were singing it. And on the morning
of the morrow he went forward to the Lake of the Birds, and he
saw the swans before him on the lake, and he went down to them
at the brink of the shore. "Are you the children of Lir? " he said.
"We are indeed," said they.
"I give thanks to God for that," said he, "for it is for your sakes
I am come to this island beyond any other island, and let you
come to land now," he said, "and give your trust to me, that you
may do good deeds and part from your sins."
They came to the land after that, and they pu t trust in
Mochaomhog, and he brought them to his own dwelling-place,
and they used to be hearing Mass with him. And he got a good
smith and bade him make chains of bright silver for them, and he
put a chain between Aodh and Fionnuala, and a chain between
Conn and Fiachra. And the four of them were raising his heart
and gladdening his mind, and no danger and no distress that was
on the swans before put any trouble on them now.
Now the king of Connacht at that time was Lairgren, son of
Colman, son of Cobthach, and Deoch, Daughter of Finghin, was
his wife. And that was the coming together of the Man from the
North and the Woman from the South, that Aoife had spoken of.
And the woman heard talk of the birds, and a great desire
came on her to get them, and she bade Lairgnen to bring them to
her, and he said he would ask them of Mochaomhog.
And she gave her word she would not stop another night with
him unless he would bring them to her. And she set out from the
house there and then. And Lairgnen sent messengers after her to
bring her back, and they did not overtake her till she was at Cill
Dun. She went back home with them then, and Lairgnen sent messengers to ask the birds of Mochaomhog, and he did not get them.
There was great anger on Lairgren then, and he went himself
to the place Mochaomhog was, and he asked was it true he had
refused him the birds. "It is true indeed," said he. At that Lairgnen
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
rose up, and he took hold of the swans, and pulled them off the
altar, two birds in each hand, to bring them away to Deoch. But