Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER III: THE IRISH INVASION MYTHS 115story of their overthrow. One of them has the honour of giving [139]her name to the island, the brutality of one of the conquerorstowards them is punished with death, and while dispossessedof the lordship of the soil they still enjoy life in the fair worldwhich by their magic art they have made invisible to mortals.They are no longer gods, but they are more than human, andfrequent instances occur in which they are shown as coming forthfrom their fairy world, being embraced in the Christian fold, andentering into heavenly bliss. With two cases of this redemptionof the Danaans we shall close this chapter on the Invasion Mythsof Ireland.The first is the strange and beautiful tale of the Transformationof the Children of Lir.The Children of LirLir was a Danaan divinity, the father of the sea-god Manananwho continually occurs in magical tales of the Milesian cycle. Hehad married in succession two sisters, the second of whom wasnamed Aoife. 111 She was childless, but the former wife of Lir hadleft him four children, a girl named Fionuala 112 and three boys.The intense love of Lir for the children made the stepmotherjealous, and she ultimately resolved on their destruction. Itwill be observed, by the way, that the People of Dana, thoughconceived as unaffected by time, and naturally immortal, arenevertheless subject to violent death either at the hands of eachother or even of mortals.With her guilty object in view, Aoife goes on a journey to aneighbouring Danaan king, Bōv the Red, taking the four childrenwith her. Arriving at a lonely place by Lake Derryvaragh, inWestmeath, she orders her attendants to slay the children. They [140]refuse, and rebuke her. Then she resolves to do it herself; but,says the legend, “her womanhood overcame her,” and insteadof killing the Children she transforms them by spells of sorcery111 Pronounced “Eefa.”112 This name means “The Maid of the Fair Shoulder.”