"Ah," replied the Druids, "we would not kill the children of Lir for the whole world. You took an evil thought into your mind, and left your shame behind you, when you came with such a request to us." "Then if you will not," cried Aoife, seizing a sword which lay near, "I will avenge myself, for I am resolved they shall not live." Saying these words, she rushed out with the drawn sword, but through her womanhood she lost her courage when she was about to strike at the children. She then returned the sword to the Druids, and said she could not kill them. Aoife resumed her journey, and they all drove on until they reached the shores of Lough Dairvreac, on the Lake of the Speckled Oak. Here she unharnessed the horses, and desired the children to descend and bathe in the lake. They did as she bade, but when all were in the water, she took a magic wand and struck them with it one after another. One after another the forms of the beautiful children disappeared, and four white swans were seen upon the water in their stead, when she addressed them in the following words:-- AOIFE. Away, you children of the king! I have separated your lives from joy. Your people will grieve to hear these tidings, but you shall continue birds. What I have done, I have done through hatred of you, and malice to your father. THE CHILDREN. We, left here on the waters, must be tossed from wave to wave. In the mean time Lir, returning to his palace, missed his children, and finding Aoife not yet come home, immediately guessed that she had destroyed them, for he likewise had observed her jealousy. In the morning he ordered his chariot to be prepared, and, following the track of his wife, travelled along until he came to the Lake of the Speckled Oak, when the children saw the chariot approaching, and Fingula spoke as follows:-- By yon old Oak, whose branches hoar Wave o'er Lough Dairvreac's lonely shore, Bright in the morn, a dazzling line Of helms and silver targets shine; Speed, brethren dear, speed towards the shelving strand, 'Tis royal Lir himself who leads the shining band. 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 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?"