Been a little while since I've done one of these. But it's Saint Paddy's day, so it seems as good a time as any. Apologies, this is a little rushed.
(Mythology Incoming)
(Please be patient)
Many of us are familiar with Tchaikovsky's famous ballet, Swan Lake - a story of young women cursed into the forms of swans until true love can save them.
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What people may not know is that it is at least in part based on the Irish tale of King Lir.
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Long ago, King Lir and his wife, Eva, had four children: Aodh, their eldest son; Fionnula, their only daughter; and twin boys, Fiachra and Conn [you do not need to remember these names].
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For several years the family lived quite happily together. Unfortunately, because mythology (much like Disney) has a bit of a love-hate relationship with mothers, Eva eventually became ill and passed away, leaving the family heartbroken.
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The King loved his wife dearly, but did not wish to be alone, and did not want his children to be without a mother. So he took another wife: A beautiful woman named Aoife.
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In some versions, Aoife is Eva's sister. In others, she is the daughter of another king, sent to Lir to be his bride.
For a time things seem too good to be true. Aoife seems kinds and caring, and loves the king and the children very much.
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However, jealousy soon begins to take route. Aoife begins to grow bitter, disliking the amount of attention the king gives his children. Especially when they have no children of their own.
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She decides she must be rid of them.
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Fearing the children will become ghosts that linger and haunt her, Aoife decides she cannot kill them outright. And so instead she devises a plan.
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For Aoife possesses some magical abilities. And so she waits until a hot day in the summer, and takes the children with her on a trip to a lake near their home. The children are eager to cool off within the lake. Aoife waits until all four children are swimming, and then casts her spell. In moments, they are transformed, each child taking the form of a beautiful white swan.
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Though they are no longer human, however, the children's voices remain.
They swim to Aoife, asking her what she had done.
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Aoife cackles at the children and explains that she has cursed them. Swans they are now, and swans they will remain. Bound in these forms for 900 years. But further still, she curses them. They will not remain in the kingdom they love for that entire time. Instead their lives shall be split in thirds.
.
The first 300 years they will be allowed to remain upon this lake. The next 300 years they will be forced to spend on the harsh Sea of Moyle. Their final 300 years will be spent in the far off waters of the isle of Inishglora.
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The children plead Aoife to undo the spell, but she refuses, returning to their home and leaving the children to their fate.
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As night approaches, King Lir becomes concerned his children have not returned. He goes to look for them, his search eventually bringing him to the shores of the lake.
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Upon seeing him, the daughter calls out to him. The children meet him on the shore, and explain Aoife's treachery.
Angered, the king confronts Aoife, demanding she undo the spell. Aoife refuses. In some versions of the story, the King turns Aoife into a wind demon. In others, he merely casts her out, banishing her from his kingdom. In either case, she is never seen again.
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Unable to undo the curse himself, the king instead begins to spend his time at the lake, keeping company with his children. The children, meanwhile, learn to pass much of their time talking and singing, their voices only growing more beautiful with time.
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300 years is a long time, however. And the king was not a young man.
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In some tales, the children are there when their father passes. But in some he lives long enough to see them fly away, beginning their journey to the sea. He dies after they have left, and they never see him again.
The second 300 years is by far the harshest in the Childrens' lives. The Sea is far less forgiving than anything they've known. Storms rage nearly constantly. The water is deep, filled with salt and sharpened rocks. The waves are far more violent than the still waters of the lake they'd known.
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The children suffer through the cold and hunger, battered and bruised, and often separated from one another, with only their voices to find their way back.
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When the 300 years is finally over, the children are weary and beaten down.
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They reach Inishglora, relieved to find it's waters far calmer and warmer than that of the sea
It's in Inishglora that the children finally meet their fate, although how their tale ends varies slightly in the telling.
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In most versions of the tale, when Aoife had cursed the children, she had told them that the curse COULD be broken, but only by the sounds of the ringing of a Christian bell.
.
In the first variation:
The children never hear this bell. Instead they live the entire 900 years as swans. And once the time is over, they return to the lake of their father. Here they meet a monk, who witnesses their transformation back to human form.
.
The children are old, however - with the curse at an end, so, too, is their unnatural life-span.
.
They live long enough for the monk to baptize them, before passing away.
.
The monk plays a part in the other endings of the tale as well.
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In the second variation, they never return home. They live several years on their final lake. Until one morning they hear the sound of a bell at the shore.
Knowing what it means, the children swim to the shore, where they, again, meet the monk. At this point, the tales merge, with the monk once again witnessing the end of the curse, and baptizing the children before they pass away.
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In yet a third version, the bell the children hear ringing does not break the curse. It does lead them to the monk, however. They explain their plight to him, and the monk takes pity on them, offering them comfort and helping care for them in the final stretch of the curse.
.
After a time, however, a man appears in the village, wearing armour and claiming to be a king. He explains that he'd heard tell of talking swans that sang with the most beautiful voices.
.
Why he wanted them is unclear, but this king had decided he would have the "swans" for his own. When the children said they did not wish to go with him, the king became angry. He threatened to burn down the village as well as the house their monk friend lived in if they did not go with him.
Things did not work out quite the way he'd planned, however. As he reached for the children, the sound of the bell rang out again. I could not find a clear explanation as to why, but this second time the bell DID break the spell.
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Before the king's eyes the four beautiful swans transformed, taking the forms of four human children.
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Terrified, the king fled, leaving the children, the monk, and the village in peace. As is a common theme, he was never seen again.
.
Here this ending diverges slightly as well.
In some, the children begin aging almost instantly, growing old and dying within a matter of days.
.
In others, the children are given a somewhat happier end, allowed to live their lives normally, choosing to remain with the monk for what years remain of their lives.
.
In nearly all versions the tale ends with the monk burying the children in a single grave so they could continue to remain as they had lived: together.
One final addition not always present mentions the monk seeing four spirits resembling children ascending from the grave into the sky, and the monk smiling, knowing the children had finally been reunited with the mother and father that had loved them
While im not going to pretend to understand the full significance of this myth in Irish culture, the statue featured in this post is known as "The Children of Lir." It is located in "The Garden of Remembrance" in Dublin.
The Garden is meant to honor "those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom."
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The sculpture is reminiscent of a Phoenix, used as a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Along with it is a water feature, interspersed with tiles of shattered swords and shields - representing an ancient tradition where Celtic warriors would throw their weapons into the river as an offering to the gods, to symbolize the end of a conflict.
The plaque for the sculpture reads:
"In the darkness of despair we saw a vision.
We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished.
In the desert of discouragement we saw a vision.
We planted the tree of valour and it blossomed.
In the winter of bondage we saw a vision.
We melted the snow of lethargy and the river of resurrection flowed from it.
We sent our vision aswim like a swan on the river.
The vision became a reality.
Winter became summer.
Bondage became freedom and this we left to you as our inheritance.
O generations of freedom remember us.
The generations of the vision.”
@dr_richard_ew yes haha. I do that so I can post the entire thing without having people comment in the middle of it. I never know how many comments it will take so I just have to put a bunch of comments and hope for the best. I was 1 short this time, but I hadn't actually planned on mentioning the statue as much before.
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Then I read about it and realized it was damn significant and interesting and it seemed a shame to leave it off
They're fun haha. I've just been too tired to do them much lately. I always like to try and read from multiple sources and not quote verbatim and hopefully keep as accurate as possible to what the myth was supposed to be (and will never know if I'm right until someone from that culture and/or who knows the story better comes at me). So it can turn into a bit of a project.
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This actually was a quicker one, and I think it still took close to 2.5 hours o.O
Do you still ever go on yokai dot com? That website has some great myths.
HOLY FUCK speaking of yokais have you seen Osakabe Hime in Nioh 2? Holy fuck it's the best ghost redesign I've seen from a game ever
This looks like the story of the girl who’s brothers was turned into swans and the only way to turn them back was for her to not talk till she made sweaters out of a special grass only found in special area of forest and grave yards. Her mother in-law assumes her a witch and wanted her gone so she stole each of her 3 children after they were born. They were about to burn her for witch craft when she her swooped in and she placed the grass sweaters on them and the crowd almost killed the swans thinking them her evil pets when she shouts don’t hurt my brothers and they became uncursed but one brothers arm was forever a wing because she didn’t finish all them completely.
She got her brothers who turned out was watching over her kidnapped kids and the evil mother in-law was in some stories burned some stories banished.
If you want a 3rd one, theres the japanese story of a man who met a beautiful woman who could create gorgeous feather dresses for a huge profit and married her. Her only stipulation was that he never sees how she makes her dresses. One day he gets super impatient and barges in on her as shes working, now seeing that she had turned herself into a swan and was ripping out her own feathers to help him turn a profit. Embarrased and angry that he betrayed her one rule, she flies away, leaving the man both lonely, and broke
(Mythology Incoming)
Many of us are familiar with Tchaikovsky's famous ballet, Swan Lake - a story of young women cursed into the forms of swans until true love can save them.
.
What people may not know is that it is at least in part based on the Irish tale of King Lir.
.
Long ago, King Lir and his wife, Eva, had four children: Aodh, their eldest son; Fionnula, their only daughter; and twin boys, Fiachra and Conn [you do not need to remember these names].
.
For several years the family lived quite happily together. Unfortunately, because mythology (much like Disney) has a bit of a love-hate relationship with mothers, Eva eventually became ill and passed away, leaving the family heartbroken.
.
The King loved his wife dearly, but did not wish to be alone, and did not want his children to be without a mother. So he took another wife: A beautiful woman named Aoife.
.
In some versions, Aoife is Eva's sister. In others, she is the daughter of another king, sent to Lir to be his bride.
.
However, jealousy soon begins to take route. Aoife begins to grow bitter, disliking the amount of attention the king gives his children. Especially when they have no children of their own.
.
She decides she must be rid of them.
.
Fearing the children will become ghosts that linger and haunt her, Aoife decides she cannot kill them outright. And so instead she devises a plan.
.
For Aoife possesses some magical abilities. And so she waits until a hot day in the summer, and takes the children with her on a trip to a lake near their home. The children are eager to cool off within the lake. Aoife waits until all four children are swimming, and then casts her spell. In moments, they are transformed, each child taking the form of a beautiful white swan.
.
Though they are no longer human, however, the children's voices remain.
.
Aoife cackles at the children and explains that she has cursed them. Swans they are now, and swans they will remain. Bound in these forms for 900 years. But further still, she curses them. They will not remain in the kingdom they love for that entire time. Instead their lives shall be split in thirds.
.
The first 300 years they will be allowed to remain upon this lake. The next 300 years they will be forced to spend on the harsh Sea of Moyle. Their final 300 years will be spent in the far off waters of the isle of Inishglora.
.
The children plead Aoife to undo the spell, but she refuses, returning to their home and leaving the children to their fate.
.
As night approaches, King Lir becomes concerned his children have not returned. He goes to look for them, his search eventually bringing him to the shores of the lake.
.
Upon seeing him, the daughter calls out to him. The children meet him on the shore, and explain Aoife's treachery.
.
Unable to undo the curse himself, the king instead begins to spend his time at the lake, keeping company with his children. The children, meanwhile, learn to pass much of their time talking and singing, their voices only growing more beautiful with time.
.
300 years is a long time, however. And the king was not a young man.
.
In some tales, the children are there when their father passes. But in some he lives long enough to see them fly away, beginning their journey to the sea. He dies after they have left, and they never see him again.
.
The children suffer through the cold and hunger, battered and bruised, and often separated from one another, with only their voices to find their way back.
.
When the 300 years is finally over, the children are weary and beaten down.
.
They reach Inishglora, relieved to find it's waters far calmer and warmer than that of the sea
.
In most versions of the tale, when Aoife had cursed the children, she had told them that the curse COULD be broken, but only by the sounds of the ringing of a Christian bell.
.
In the first variation:
The children never hear this bell. Instead they live the entire 900 years as swans. And once the time is over, they return to the lake of their father. Here they meet a monk, who witnesses their transformation back to human form.
.
The children are old, however - with the curse at an end, so, too, is their unnatural life-span.
.
They live long enough for the monk to baptize them, before passing away.
.
The monk plays a part in the other endings of the tale as well.
.
In the second variation, they never return home. They live several years on their final lake. Until one morning they hear the sound of a bell at the shore.
.
In yet a third version, the bell the children hear ringing does not break the curse. It does lead them to the monk, however. They explain their plight to him, and the monk takes pity on them, offering them comfort and helping care for them in the final stretch of the curse.
.
After a time, however, a man appears in the village, wearing armour and claiming to be a king. He explains that he'd heard tell of talking swans that sang with the most beautiful voices.
.
Why he wanted them is unclear, but this king had decided he would have the "swans" for his own. When the children said they did not wish to go with him, the king became angry. He threatened to burn down the village as well as the house their monk friend lived in if they did not go with him.
.
Before the king's eyes the four beautiful swans transformed, taking the forms of four human children.
.
Terrified, the king fled, leaving the children, the monk, and the village in peace. As is a common theme, he was never seen again.
.
Here this ending diverges slightly as well.
In some, the children begin aging almost instantly, growing old and dying within a matter of days.
.
In others, the children are given a somewhat happier end, allowed to live their lives normally, choosing to remain with the monk for what years remain of their lives.
.
In nearly all versions the tale ends with the monk burying the children in a single grave so they could continue to remain as they had lived: together.
The Garden is meant to honor "those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom."
.
The sculpture is reminiscent of a Phoenix, used as a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Along with it is a water feature, interspersed with tiles of shattered swords and shields - representing an ancient tradition where Celtic warriors would throw their weapons into the river as an offering to the gods, to symbolize the end of a conflict.
Update: I did not see you updating this beforehand so all I saw earlier was just a bunch of posts saying "3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9"
"In the darkness of despair we saw a vision.
We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished.
In the desert of discouragement we saw a vision.
We planted the tree of valour and it blossomed.
In the winter of bondage we saw a vision.
We melted the snow of lethargy and the river of resurrection flowed from it.
We sent our vision aswim like a swan on the river.
The vision became a reality.
Winter became summer.
Bondage became freedom and this we left to you as our inheritance.
O generations of freedom remember us.
The generations of the vision.”
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Then I read about it and realized it was damn significant and interesting and it seemed a shame to leave it off
Also mythological substance is awesome
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This actually was a quicker one, and I think it still took close to 2.5 hours o.O
HOLY FUCK speaking of yokais have you seen Osakabe Hime in Nioh 2? Holy fuck it's the best ghost redesign I've seen from a game ever
Bring it
She got her brothers who turned out was watching over her kidnapped kids and the evil mother in-law was in some stories burned some stories banished.