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.