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	Lough Davra
	In the morning the children climbed into Aoife's chariot but Finola was scared and afraid. She had good reason, for Aoife had a dreadful plan. Aoife stopped the chariot beside Lough Davra. She said, 'Let us rest here.' The children ran to play in the cool clear water. They didn't see Aoife reach for the Druid's wand hidden in the chariot. They didn't see her creep up behind them and raise the wand. Then swish. She brought it down on Finola's shoulders and then swish swish on Conn and Aedh, and then on Fiacra, swish. She cast a spell so strong that no Druid in the whole of Erin could break it. 'You will be swans,' she cried. The children screamed and frightened all the birds from the trees. 'I've got feathers on me! Get them off!' >'My tummy's in the water.' 'It hurts. My elbows are in the wrong place.' They tried to catch hold of each other, but they had no hands. They looked around for each other, but they saw only swan faces. They tried to run away, but their webbed feet trod frantically in the water and they crashed into each other. Their wings tangled. Aoife said, 'You must stay on Lough Davra for 300 years, and then on the sea of Moyle for 300 years more, and then on the western sea for another 300 years. You will be swans, until you find a stronger magic than mine.' They looked so afraid, that even Aoife felt sorry. She made another spell. 'You will keep your human voices and understanding, and you will have the gift to make magic music. It will bring peace and healing to all who hear it.' Aoife jumped into her chariot, and got ready to go. 'Take us with you,' the children shouted. 'If you leave Lough Davra before 300 years, you will die,' Aoife said. 'I don't care. I won't stay here' Aedh yelled, and he tried to run out of the water and follow her, but, because his swan shape was still new to him, he tripped over his own feet and fell helpless on the shore. Aoife's chariot disappeared into the trees. The drumming of the horse's feet and the rattle of the harness and great wheels vanished into silence 'Aedh' Finola called out in a frightened whisper. 'There are foxes around, or wild dogs, or even wolves. Come back on the water.' Aedh came back, slowly, miserably. 'I want to go home.' 'Father will find us' 'How will he know where to look?' Only the foxes that shrieked along the shore, only the cold white stars that began to shine in the darkening sky knew where they were. They sobbed and the lapping lake water seemed to sob too. They wound their long necks together, and floated, side to feathered side, through the whole of that terrible first night on Lough Davra. When Dearg and Lir found out what had happened to the children, they was so angry with Aoife that she was changed into a Demon of the Air. She whirled, screaming, up into the sky, up among the black storm clouds and the hurricanes, and she is still up there, and will be forever. King Lir found the four swans at Lough Davra. They rushed out of the water towards him and he sat down amongst them . He stroked their heads. He wiped away their tears. He hugged them as best you can hug a swan. 'I will bring you home,' Lir said. 'We will be together . . .' 'We can't leave Lough Davra', Finola said. 'Then I will make my home here,' said Lir, and he came to live beside the lake. The swans were happy there with their father. They warmed themselves by the camp fires, they had the tastiest food from the table, they had the softest beds. They heard the best stories and jokes and all the news of the wide world. When Lir was sad and lonely, the swans sang their beautiful magic songs and all sadness disappeared, all hurts healed. Maybe the last few faint notes of their singing even reached far up into the sky and were heard by Aoife as she whirled forever alone through cloud and black storm. One day, after many years had passed, a thing like a black raven, suddenly plummeted down from above the clouds, so swiftly that it seemed its feathers unravelled behind it. It spun around the swans like a whirlwind, screeching and shrieking with Aoife's voice. 'Leave Lough Davra,300 years are gone. 300 more you must spend on the sea of Moyle, alone, all alone . . .'. Then the thing that was nearly like a bird shot back up into the sky, straight up like a rocket, screaming as it went. 'I will come with you to the sea of Moyle,' Lir said. 'You can't,' Finola said. She was as pale and frightened as a swan can be. 'You heard what she said. We must go alone.' 'But when will I see you again?' Lir said. Then they all started to cry because they realised just how long their separation would be. Lir said, 'Never forget, Finola, and Aedh, Conn and Fiacra, our love will bring us together again' The children gathered about Lir. They opened their wings around him, closed him gently in a circle of feathers, nuzzled their cheeks against his. 'Sing before you go,' Lir said. They sang their beautiful music. Lir's grief eased. Even the children stopped crying as their song got stronger. They flew away, still singing, their great wings beating, swoosh, swoosh, steady and strong. As their music faded into the distance, King Lir called out that there would be a new law in Erin. No-one, ever, would kill a swan again. previous page | read more