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Lough Derravaragh
| Castlepollard Co. Westmeath | ||
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Visitor's rating: 2 vote(s) | ||
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Of course you can sit on the border of Lough Derravaragh, with or without a fishing rod, to enjoy its wooden shores and green lushy meadows, but a visit to this lake is not complete without sad musings over the tragedy which took place a long time ago with the Children of Lir.
Children of Lir
The Tuatha de Danaan Lir, the Lord of the Sea, was married with Aobh (or Eve), who had gave him a daughter Fionnghuala (or Fionnuala) and a son Aodh. Aobh died in childbirth after given birth to a boy twin: Fiachra and Conn. Lir was heartbroken, but recovered and fell in love with Aoife, the sister of his deceased wife.
In time Aoife grew jealous of Lirs love for his children and, conform the bad reputation of stepmothers, she decided to get rid of the children. One day she took Lirs children out for a walk and they passed Lough Derravaragh. Being the children of the Lord of the Sea they could not resist the temptation of the water and they dived in for a swim. On the shore Aoife started with magic rituals and she put a spell on the children. The children were changed into swans with the most beautiful singing voices and they must spend 300 years on Lough Derravaragh, 300 years on the Sea of Moyle, located between Ireland and Scotland, and 300 years around Erris in County Mayo. According to one version the spell could be broken when an King of Connacht would marry a woman from Munster, while an other version requires the sound of a bell of a new God.
During their first term the Tuatha de Danaan frequently visited the children, enjoying the sound of their voices. Their second term, on the Sea of Moyle, was cold and extremely hard. While they flew from the Sea of Moyle to Erris they made a detour over Lough Derravaragh and saw their father's fort in ruines.
Finaly after nine hundred years the spell was broken. The swans changed into children, but he harsh exile took its toll. The children aged rapidly and died young.