Lir came to the brink of the water, and when he heard the birds conversing, as they drew nigh, in human language, he asked them how they became endowed with that surprising gift.
"Know, Lir," replied Fingula, "that we are your four children, who, through the frantic jealousy of our[Pg 37] step-mother, and our own mother's sister, have been reduced to this unhappy condition."
"Are there any means," asked the wretched father, "by which you can ever be restored to your own forms again?"
"None," replied Fingula; "there is no man in existence able to effect that change, nor can it ever take place until a woman from the south, named Deocha, daughter of Ingri, the son of Black Hugh, and a man from the north, named Lairgnean, the son of Colman, shall occasion our deliverance in the time of The Tailgean,[A] when the Christian faith and charity shall come into Ireland."
When Lir and his attendants heard these words, they uttered three doleful cries.
"Are you satisfied," said Lir, "since you retain your speech and reason, to come and remain with us?"
"It is not in our power to do so," replied Fingula, "nor are we at liberty to commit ourselves to the hands of man, until what I have told you shall have come to pass. But in the mean time we possess our speech and our mental faculties as fully as ever, and are moreover endowed with one additional quality, which is that we can sing the most melodious airs that the world has ever heard, and there is no mortal that would not feel a pleasure in listening to our voices. Remain with us for this night, and you shall hear our music."
When Lir had heard these words, he ordered his[Pg 38] followers to unharness their steeds, and they remained during the whole night on the strand, listening to the music of the birds, until all were lulled to sleep by the enchanting melody, excepting Lir alone. In the morning Lir arose from the bank on which he lay, and addressed his children in the following words:—
In vain I stretch my aching limbs
And close my weeping eyes,