"And she answered, 'They are in the lake which we passed by the way as
we came here.'

"'And what did you do to them?'

"'I changed them into white swans.'

"'Why did you do that?'

"'Because my husband loved them more than he loved me.'

"He woke her out of the magic sleep and called all his people
together. Before them all he told her that she should be punished for
her wickedness, and then he changed her, by his Druidic power, into a
gray vulture. Then he said to the people: 'This creature that was my
daughter has laid a wicked enchantment on her husband's children. She
has changed them into swans. They must keep that shape for many
hundreds of years; they must swim in the lakes and the seas and fly
over the land, and they must travel far and must suffer much. But
there is a hope for them. Many, many hundred years will pass away--so
many that even the Druid's eye can scarcely see what is at the end of
them. But at last there shall come strange men across the sea to
Erin--men with shaven heads. They shall build houses and shall set up
tables in the east ends of their houses, and they shall ring bells.
And when the swans that were the children of Lir shall hear the first
sound of these bells, they shall have their human shape again, and
then they shall be happy forever. But she--the gray vulture--she shall
fly in the sky, where it is stormy and cold. Where there are thick
clouds and where the rain is made, there shall be her home. She shall
not fly where the heaven is blue and where the sun shines warm. The
bells of the good men from over the sea shall bring her no peace. Her
way shall be with the wind and the hail. If she has any rest it shall
be on the peak of some wet crag, where the snow whirls around her, or
the fog drives past her, or the sleet cuts against her, or the cold
spray of the sea dashes over her. And it shall be so with her till the
Day of Doom.'

"When the King had finished speaking the gray vulture flew away, and
she was never seen again. But the King and all the court rode in
chariots to the lake where the white swans were, and Lir and all his
people came there, too, when they heard what had been done. And there
they all stood and listened to the singing of the four swans. So
beautiful was the song that those who listened could think of nothing
else while they heard it. They left their horses and their chariots
and stood on the shore of the lake and listened to the enchanting
music, and neve