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Legend of Lir comes to life  Pupils
at St. Paul’s School for Girls in Birmingham have been creating
a special project centred on the famous Irish legend The Children Of Lir.
brendan farrell takes a look at their work — and explains the famous
tale.
ST. PAUL’S School has many links with Ireland — not least
the fact that many of its pupils along with head teacher Angela Whelan
and her deputy Dawn Casserly are of Irish descent.
And this year they’re adding another — a project to tell the
tale of one of Ireland’s best known and loved legends The Children
Of Lir.
Siobhán Gorman from Sandwell Irish Society together with Sandwell
Rose Of Tralee Claire Diamond and St. Paul’s textiles teacher Nicola
Hawkes have been helping the pupils recreate the legend through a variety
of felt characters.
The Children Of Lir is one of Ireland’s great folklore legends.
It tells the tale of King Lir and his four children Fionnuala, Aodh, Conn
and Fiachra in the days of the Tuatha De Danann.
But there’s always a nasty person around — in this case King
Lir’s second wife Aoife who was jealous of the love her husband
had for his children.
Aoife takes the youngsters to the shores of Lough Derravarragh in Co.
Westmeath and while they are bathing casts a spell on them turning them
into swans.
They could retain their normal voices but the spell was to last 900 years
— 300 on the waters of Derravarragh, 300 on the stormy Sea of Moyle
off the Antrim coast and the final 300 on the Sea of Erris off the Mayo
coast.
It could only be broken if the children heard the sound of the Christian
bell.
The legend ends when the swans fly over the tiny island of Inisglora in
Blacksod Bay as the bell chimes and they land to be converted to Christianity
by St. Brendan.
As the spell ends they become feeble and frail but are baptised before
they die. The four are buried in a shallow grave on Inisglora —
with Fionnuala’s arms clasped around the three brothers she had
cared for during that 900-year spell.
During one of my many travels around Ireland I decided to visit the three
main areas featured in the legend.
The first two places are easy — Lough Derravarragh is one of Ireland’s
hidden gems and there are always swans there.
The Sea of Moyle is off the Antrim coast with stormy seas near Rathlin
Island — but the final part in the legend The Sea of Erris is a
very different story.
Just try finding Inisglora on any tourist map. It’s there just near
the island of Iniskea in Blacksod Bay but getting there is another story.
I managed to hire the trawler Orla Marie but was curious as to why a curragh
was being towed behind.
Two hours of heavy seas later I got my answer: Surrounding Inisglora are
dangerous reefs and jagged rocks which could rip the bottom out of any
vessel.
But the curragh is light with a shallow draft and was soon skimming across
the stormy waves.
Inisglora itself has the remains of a tiny church where you can settle
down in the shelter of the ruins with the wind howling and seas pounding.
It’s hard to believe that Inisglora was famous for pilgrimages back
in the 1950s.
The legend has certainly enchanted the group of St. Paul’s pupils
who took on the project of making characters from the legend out of coloured
textiles.
There were many versions of swans, King Lir appeared in all shapes and
sizes and Aoife is depicted in demonic shapes.
There was even a name change for the monk who converted the child swans
to Christianity — becoming The Funky Monk!
And if you think the Children Of Lir is only a legend then pay a visit
to Lough Derravarragh and see the paintings of swans on walls, gates and
road signs.
Better still pop in to the nearby Multyfarnham Abbey and gaze at the stained
glass windows depicting the Lir story.
Then sit on the shores of Derravarragh as the wind sighs and listen. To
those who believe it is said it is not the wind but the sound of voices
borne aloft on the western winds.
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