The Sidhe

Rostrum asks:

The basic story told by Wolfe--the children being turned into swans and their eventual passing--is one of the "Three Sorrowful Stories of Erin", known as the "Fate of the Children of Lêr" (or "Lyr"). In it, the children are turned to swans, not by their father in an attempt at immortality, but by their wicked, jealous stepmother in an effort to get them out of the way. Neither Deirdre (who is the subject of one of the other two "Sorrowful Stories", where she is a sort of Irish Helen), nor Cuchulainn (who belongs to another Irish mythological cycle altogether), have anything to do with it. In fact, the Milesians forbade any man to harm a swan because of fear of harming the children. And there were four of them, not three. The eldest, the girl, was named Finola, and her three brothers were Aed, Fiachra and Conn. -Roy

So, don't keep me in suspense--what happens to the children in the original version? Does it have the bit about the flock dwindling to a single bird? I think that's the coolest part of the story. (Also, Wolfe's bit about baptism captures what really happened to the pagans in Ireland pretty well. And the baptism vs. attempted immortality is what makes it such a good end to Weer's story.) -Rostrum