It was after the coming of Amergin, after the children of Danu withdrew beneath the earth, that they chose a new leader. All the gods supported the choice of Bodb the Red, son of the Dagda, save two of the eldest: Mider and Lêr. Year after year, Bodb the Red made war on Mider, but took no action against Lêr, whom he had once counted a friend. Instead, he sent gifts to Lêr, trying to win his support.

For some time, Lêr ignored the friendly overtures, content in his isolation. But then his beloved wife died, and his sidhe felt hollow. So when Bodb the Red sent a message offering one of his foster daughters in marriage, Lêr emerged from his exile.

Lêr met the three women, daughters of Ailioll of Arran, at the sidhe of Bodb the Red. Aebh, Aeife, and Ailbhe were all beautiful and well-spoken. Lêr did not care for a long courtship, and wanted to preserve his newly rekindled friendship with Bodb the Red. "I choose Aebh," he said. "She is eldest, and so I suppose the noblest." The two were married, and a great feast held, and then Lêr returned to Sidh Fionnachaidh with his new wife.

They lived happily enough for a time, and Aebh bore four children: a daughter, Finola; a boy, Aed; and twin boys, Fiachra and Conn. This last delivery was difficult, and Aebh died in childbirth. Bodb the Red offered Lêr another of his foster daughters, and so Lêr chose the next eldest, Aeife.

Each year, Lêr, Aeife and the four children attended a great feast, which was held at a different sidhe each time. As they grew older, the children proved to be popular among all the Tuatha Dé Danann. Aeife bore no children, but Lêr did not care, since Aebh's children pleased him so much.

Aeife watched her sister's children with growing jealousy. She had to compete with them for her husband's affection. She was well aware of how much he had loved his previous wives, and she imagined that his feelings for her were cooler to begin with.

If the children were dead, she often mused, then he would have only me. Ghosts made poor company. Lêr had not hesitated to remarry, twice, and this despite the love he had felt for his first two wives.

After a time, Aeife could not bear not to act on her fantasies. She went to her servants, and asked them to kill the children. She offered them her love, and great wealth, but none allowed themselves to be persuaded. At last, Aeife realized that she would have to rid herself of the children without anyone's aid.

So Aeife took the children to Lake Darvra, and sent them into the water to bathe. As they splashed and sported with one another, Aeife spoke an incantation over them, and touched each with a druid's wand. Before the children knew what was happening, their shapes changed into those of swans.

Aeife's magic was powerful, but the shape changes were imperfect: she had not the power to take away the minds and speech of her victims.

"You will suffer the wrath of Lêr and Bodb the Red," Finola promised.

"I shall not undo this magic," Aeife swore, and the children believed her.

"Then how long will you torment us?" Aed asked.

"You shall spend the next three hundred years here, and then three hundred years upon the Sea of Moyle, and after that three hundred at Irros Domnann and the Isle of Glora." Aeife smiled. "But I have not been entirely unkind to you: I have allowed you to keep your minds, and you shall sing the most beautiful songs in all the world."

Aeife left the children at the lake, and returned to Lêr with a tale of their drowning. In his grief, Lêr could not bring himself to believe her story, and went to Lake Darvra himself. There he found the four swans, speaking in the voices of his children, and they told him what fate had befallen them. Lêr's magic proved weaker than Aeife's, and he could not undo the spell; even Bodb the Red was powerless.

Enraged, Bodb the Red summoned Aeife to him, and forced her to swear an oath to speak the truth. "What shape to you loathe more than any other?" Mindful of her oath, Aeife answered: "A demon of the air," and Bodb the Red forced that shape upon her and banished her.

The Tuatha Dé Danann visited the swans, whom they had loved so much. Mortals also came, and the meeting became an annual feast. To kill a swan in Ireland was the most heinous crime, for no one could bear the thought that the children of Lêr might be slain.

After three hundred years, the children went to the Sea of Moyle. This period of their exile was much more lonely, and the Sea unfriendly. During all three centuries, only one group of the Tuatha Dé Danann came to visit Lêr's children: the sons of Bodb the Red told them what had passed during their exile.

The children then traveled to Erris to fulfill the final stage of the curse. While they waited for the three centuries to come to an end, Saint Patrick came to Ireland and banished the gods. When the children returned to their father's home, they found that Sidh Fionnechaidh had long since been abandoned, and that Lêr had been slain by Caoilte, a cousin of Finn mac Coul.

Their friends and relations gone, the unhappy children wandered hopeless for a time. They finally returned to the Isle of Glora, where there lived the Lonely Crane of Inniskea, their only remaining friend in all the world.

And some say that the curse, which was perhaps the last bit of magic of the Tuatha Dé Danann to remain in Ireland, was ended by the people who had driven the gods away. For one day, a man came to the island. He called himself Saint Caemhoc, and preached the religion of Saint Patrick. The children of Lêr accepted baptism, which broke the spell of nine centuries; but they were restored to ancient bodies, and did not long survive the transformation. Saint Caemhoc buried them in the same grave, for he could not bear to separate the four siblings who had endured so much suffering together.

About the Author.

Back to the top of this page.