The Children of Lir

The story of The Children of Lir takes place long, long ago in druid Ireland. Lir was the god of the sea and his four children were very gifted, having the most amazing singing voices ever heard. Their mother died in childbirth of twin boys. Lir was very sad until he met his dead wife's sister, Aoife. Lir and Aoife married and soon after she became jealous of how much lir loved his children.
Aoife devised an evil plan to get rid of the children. She took them on a walk and convinced them to go swimming and as they did she cast a spell, condemning them to 900 years as swans only the bell of a new God would set them free. Lir went looking for his children and found out what Aoife had done. He sent her to a deemed life in the sky and visited his children everyday for 300 years. The children were then sent to a different lake and never saw there father again. After 300 years at the new lake they went to another location where they met a christian missionary. They knew he could help them become free so they stayed with him for years learning about his Christian God and St. Patrick. One day he rang a bell for mass, turning the swans back into children. They aged very fast so the man baptised them immediately before they died.
I like this story because with their patience they were able to find happiness and God. It was terrible that they had to leave their father but if they hadn't they would have never learned about the Christian religion. Aoife's curse really saved them.

My Giant's Causeway

Here are some pictures of Giant's Causeway That I took when I visited it in July of 2008.

Giants Causeway

The story of Giants Causeway is amusing, like many Irish tales. It shows how being clever is sometimes much more valuable than being "big and strong". Finn MacCool is said to be the hero who made the Causeway so that a taunting Scottish Giant could come battle him. But, after seeing the size of the giant and being so exhausted from building the pathway across the Channel he realized he needed to come up with a plan. He dressed up like a baby and waited for the giant. When the giant saw Finn's "son" he was terrified of how big he must be if his baby is that huge! So the giant ran back to Scotland destroying the causeway as he went. This story is so intriguing because there are hexagonal stones on the coast of Northern Ireland and directly across in Scotland. These stones look like they have been hand made and fitted together and draw in millions of tourists a year, making this legend unforgettable.

For Starters

With this blog I would like to share my thoughts about traditional Irish stories. Irish folk tales are so entertaining and I would love to try and read them all and find there deeper meanings. I hope to find and read as many of these as possible. Irish literature is so entertaining and I hope to share my love with others and encourage people to read the stories I find and recommend. I would love for people to recommend stories through my blog also and maybe even share their family stories, because we all know how Irish people love to tell their family stories and have so many. So let the craic begin!