The Children of Lir
The children transformed into swans who endured nine hundred years of enchantment.
The four children of Lir were transformed into swans by their jealous stepmother, cursed to wander for nine hundred years. Their patience, their beautiful singing, and their eventual release teach endurance through undeserved suffering and faith that curses will end.
Nine hundred years the curse held us, but no enchantment is forever.
This tale teaches Celtic wisdom about enduring unjust suffering with grace.
Mythological Cycle
Written about in
- What Celtic tradition says about grief
Four children were turned into swans and stayed swans for nine hundred years. The best-loved Irish grief story refuses to make the suffering short, deserved, or explained; it promises only that no enchantment is forever.