The Children of Lir

Story

Long ago, a king and his four children lived in Ireland. When the king’s wife died, he decided that his children needed a mother and he married again. His new wife found it difficult that the king gave so much attention to his children and not enough to her so she cast a spell and turned the children into swans.

The story is part of the Mythological Cycles, one of the four main cycles of stories in Ireland. The stories of the Mythological Cycle were all spoken oral stories before being written down by monks in the 11th and 12th century.

Why we chose it

A haunting legend which is one of the best known stories from Ireland.