Talk:Children of Lir

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The Ending[edit]

There's more than one version of the ending. They all center around the swans turning back to withered old people, but vary as to how and when. A somewhat shorter telling, for example, is that St Patrick himself happened upon the swans and performed a miracle. Probably late 19th-centuary church propaganda...there was a lot of it about. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.141.73.57 (talkcontribs) 01:15, 2005 May 6

  • In the version that I read growing up, the children were swans for about 900 years, and one day while they were in a lake outside a church, they heard a sound that they hadn't heard before (church bells). They started to turn back to humans (very old yes) and a priest who happened to be outside saw them, and quickly ran in to get some holy water which (if i remember correctly) helped them change back to humans faster. Then after all four of them became humans again, the priest let them stay in the church, and then that night they finally died. (yes, it was worded as a happy ending, that now thinking about it doesn't sound that happy...but i guess it's just after all that time spent as swans, together human again, they finally got some rest.

But yes, I do agree it does sound like a bit of church propaganda...but it's much happier than them being forever cursed as swans...IrishPearl 21:52, 24 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]



Added refernces. Removed following text: "and Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.[citation needed]" as according to http://www.refracted-light.net/?q=node/90 is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Six Swans" only set in Ireland. So while it is a similar story it is not a retelling.

Jaqian (talk) 17:08, 11 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The version studied for Irish Leaving Certificate exams (2005) featured a much longer ending. They heard bells, went to the monestary and worked there as swans, wearing silver chains. A jelous queen seized their chains, at which point they change back. Aoife asks for them to be baptised and receive confession. Then they die. How can kids, turned into swans at a very young age, have enough sins to warrant confession? 83.70.170.48 (talk) 13:20, 18 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Addition to Additional (heh)[edit]

Singer, by Jean Thesman, is also based on this story Efreak (talk) 18:52, 10 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

File:Thechildrenoflirduncan1914.jpg Nominated for Deletion[edit]

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Different condition for back transformation[edit]

I remember this story with a different condition for the lifting of the curse - a woman from the southern parts of Ireland has to marry a man from the north. The church actually was not involved at all. I do not find any reliable source at the moment, though. 85.178.133.220 (talk) 16:14, 4 January 2013 (UTC)TS[reply]

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Why no mention of manuscript source?[edit]

The page on Irish Mythology says "...Oidheadh Clainne Lir, or The Tragedy of the Children of Lir, is also part of [the mythological cycle]." But this page makes no mention of any sources for the story! Note that "numerous prose tales and poems found in medieval manuscripts" is not a very specific source. zadignose (talk) 06:11, 23 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 6 November 2018[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved. (non-admin closure)Ammarpad (talk) 17:23, 13 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]


Oidheadh chloinne LirChildren of Lir – Request move back to the original name per WP:COMMON_NAME. The myth is commonly known as the Children of Lir rather than by its Irish language title. Google results - 137k for Children of Lir vs. 8k for Oidheadh chloinne Lir. Spleodrach (talk) 15:31, 6 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Support - the current name is a very odd choice in the English-language Wikipedia, a name not even much used in Irish schools, or volumes of tales. It is almost always just The Children of Lir.SeoR (talk) 17:15, 6 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support per nom. ww2censor (talk) 10:36, 7 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support per nom. Shouldn't have been moved. The English name is primary in English-language sources. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:45, 7 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.