338 SWAN 



Cha dean aon ailleog samhradh (Ir.). 



One swallow makes not summer. 

 Cho luath ri aigne nam ban baoth. 



As swift as the thoughts of the foolish woman. 

 Is tuar fearthuinn ealt ailleag. 



A flock of swallows is a sign of rain. 



SWAN. — A, ai (H. S. Diet.), airmid, ala, alunn, aoi ; Ceis 

 (Dean of Lismore), corra-ghrain, creadh, creath, cyn or cin (Old 

 Celt.) ; P2ala, ealadh, ela, elae (Old Celt.) ; Gall, gaod, geine, geis, 

 geiss ; Lon (wild) ; Searpan, soma (flock). 



Cob (large) ; Elk (wild — North), eyrar (brood) ; Hooper ; like 

 (Drayton) ; Whistling-swan, whooper. 



Said to be from Teutonic ^'swanna." The word "geis" or 

 "geiss" is just goose, and has as plural "geissi." 



In an old Celtic legend, now well known, the account is given 

 of how the children or daughters of "Lir" were turned into swans 

 for nine hundred years by enchantment, till they were released 

 therefrom by hearing the sound of a certain consecrated bell. 

 In another account (Irish) in " the three sorrows of story-telling," 

 it is stated that they were changed by the incantation of their step- 

 mother, and the children's names are there given as Conn, Fiacra, 

 Finola, and Aedh, or Conn, Aid,a, Finola, and Fiach ; in this poem 

 " Lir " is spelled " Lear." These four children (one girl, Finola, her 

 tvVin brother, Aed, and other twin boys, Ficra and Conn), had to 

 live three hundred years in each of three places, one being the 

 open sea near our Mull of Cantyre ; a peculiarity of their condition, 

 fortunately, was the privilege of retaining their own Gaelic speech, 

 and the power of singing such sweet and plaintive fairy music, 

 excelling all the music of the world. Thus they remained for the 

 nine hundred years, undergoing many trials, till 



*' When Faith shed her heavenly rays. 

 They heard St Patrick's song of praise 

 And the voice of the Christian's belL" 



They then resumed their human shape, but alas ! not as when 

 changed, young and fresh, but old and shrivelled. They, how- 

 ever, were baptised by a monk, St Kennog, died immediately, and 

 winged their way aloft amidst strains of the sweetest music. It is 

 satisfactory to learn that, for her cruel act of transformation, the 

 stepmother was changed into a demon of the air (the worst con- 

 ceivable thing known to the ancient Celt), w^hich she still is. 

 In Ireland, it is said, a law was passed, in consequence of the fore- 

 going, prohibiting the killing of swans. The word " MacLir or 

 MacLear " means "son of the sea." 



In Chronico?i Scotorum we find the word "ges" for a swan, 

 describing the whiteness of the person of a huge woman cast ashore 

 in Alba, in the year a.d. 900, "fuan ngeissi" being found as an 

 Old Celtic term for swan's raiment, or plumage. In "Miann ^ 



