I wrote this for a study of myths in my Catholic Bible Study class. Enjoy.
Once upon a time a long time ago, before the birds got their song, there was a young maiden who was quite ugly. She was shunned by most of the villagers and this made her very sad. She had secretly fallen in love with the woodsman's son Gareth because he was very kind to her, but despite his kindness he rarely noticed her.
One day she saw Gareth walking with the most beautiful girl in the village. Her heart was broken and she ran deep into the old forest; deeper than she had ever been before, to where some say the first trees still grow. She collapsed beside a lake, crying and wailing from the depths of her heart. The sound of her wailing was so beautiful that all the creatures of the forest drew near to discover the source of such a sad but beautiful sound. The song of her heart reached the ears of the forest god and he too searched out the source of such beauty. He found her crying, and her song so moved him that he asked her to teach all the birds to sing. The ache in her heart was quelled by his kindness and she agreed. Each day a different species of bird would come to her, and she would teach it to sing one of her heart songs. This so delighted the forest god that He called her Lirona, which means "my song."
Lirona had been lost deep in the forest for a very long time. The villagers thought her gone, or perhaps eaten by wild animals. It happened one day that the woodsman's son Gareth was searching deep in the forest for wood for his father, when he heard one of the beautiful songs of Lirona's heart. He scanned the forest and was surprised to see a bird singing so sweetly, especially because birds had never sung before. He asked the bird how it had learned to sing so beautifully. The bird told him that it was a sacred heart song taught to it by the young maiden Lirona. She lived deep in the oldest part of the wood.
Gareth was intrigued by the song for it touched him deeply. The next day he was again searching for wood deeper in the forest, and he came upon another bird singing so sweetly. Without asking he knew it must be another sacred heart song from the young maiden Lirona. He decided to set out on a quest to find her. As he searched deeper into the forest, it seemed as if the singing of each bird were leading him right to her, for without realizing it he had fallen in love.
On the day, that the crows came to Lirona to learn one of her heart songs, Gareth discovered her there beside the lake. He immediately recognized her as the young maiden he had been kind to, but now she seemed transformed. The songs of her heart had given her a deeper and eternal beauty that Gareth had never seen before. Now, as he gazed on her with the eyes of his heart, she was the most beautiful woman in all the land. Lirona's heart leaped when she saw Gareth, because he was the source of all her heart songs. She was swept up with love for him and agreed to be his wife forever. The forest god was filled with jealousy because he too had fallen in love with her. In a fit of rage he caused a great tree to fall on Gareth crushing him to death. Lirona's heart cried "No! No!" and she fell beside the tree. It was the last song she ever sang before she died of a broken heart. The crows immediately learned the song and sang "No! No!" and flew off into the night. That is why, even to this day, crows do not sing so sweetly.
by Sr. Maria Louise Edwards - copyright 2013 all rights reserved
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