swan feast

we are in Cork in drizzle and went to an Italian for a meal. Al ordered seafood spaghetti and it arrived like this! I told him it is illegal to kill and eat swans in Ireland because of the children of Lir.
King Lir so adored his 4 children that their stepmother was driven wild with jealousy. One day she took them to a lake and cast a spell on them turning them into wild swans confined to the waters of Ireland for 900 years. however as soon as she had done this she became racked with guilt and bestowed on them the gift of exquisite song. The king then decreed that no swan in Ireland should be killed - an act which is still illegal today.
The end of the children's ordeal ended after 900 years and coincided with the coming of Christianity. The children regained human form but were wizened and weak and they died soon afterward s but not before being baptized!
Al ate the swan!