My name is Oifa and I am an air-demon. My home is a cave where I live in total darkness. I have no shape nor do I make a sound; I cannot communicate with anyone and I have been alone for the last nine hundred years. I have lost everything and the spider is my only friend. I used to be a human with a husband, stepchildren, a family, and a home but I ruined that for myself through jealousy.
My sister, Ove, and King Lir had a good marriage and four beautiful children together. Ove died after having the last one. My father felt sad for Lir and so he offered me to him as a sort of “replacement” wife. At first I loved my stepchildren and was very proud to be raising them for my sister. But, after so long of Lir waking and laying with the kids, who slept at our feet, every morning, I could not stand it anymore. We needed some privacy, but Lir would not hear any of it, so as the days wore on, the more jealous I became. I tried to have them killed. I am not proud of it, but I did. When I was refused this favor, I did the only thing I knew to do. I put a spell on them to turn them into white swans. I left them their voices and that was my undoing. Their father found them and told him what I had done. Lir told my father and he punished me to this form forever.
So, that is how I came to be who I am. A demon with no purpose but ruin. I hide out in this cave for years at a time. I have magic, but I cannot even help myself, only hurt others. What I would give to be able to talk to someone, or to be able to touch anything, to feel the grass under my feet, to smell the flowers blooming in the Spring, to feel a lover’s touch. Over the years no one has come near my cave. I used to go wander the towns that were near by, but every time I caused some sort of unintentional doom. I have noticed a young man that is herding his sheep come by every now and then. I have just now worked up the nerve to try to contact him. Sometimes when he is taking a break near the entrance of my cave, I walk up behind him, but all he notices is the brief wind I make as I try to speak to him. I hope one day soon he hears me.
Waitomo Cave Entrance by James Shook. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Author’s Note: My story is based off of the short story The Fate of the Children of Lir from the Celtic Fairy Tales II Unit. Oifa, who was the second wife of King Lir, was said to be made into an air-demon as punishment for turning his children into swans. I wondered what happened to her after her part in the story was done. The word/associations of feathers, east, spider, divination, darkness, and Thoth all come from the pagan attributes of the Air element. I figured since air was specifically said, that it probably refers to the four elements from witchcraft, which is Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
Bibliography: More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, 1895
Hey Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. It was really entertaining. It was a little sad but still interesting. The picture you chose to include in your story really fit well with the content of the story. It really illustrates the cave that the main character is forced to dwell in. This allows the reader to picture the setting. Good job Nicole!