Human Voices Wake Us

The Greath Myths #9: The Many Metamorphoses of the Pig Keepers (Celtic)


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An episode from 4/5/21: In this second episode on Celtic mythology, I read the story "The Quarrel of the Two Pig-keepers and how the Bulls were Begotten." One of the great joys of Celtic myth are stories of relay-race metamorphoses, where two humans chase each other while changing into many different animal forms. The story serves as one of many preludes to the Great Irish epic, The Táin Bó Cúailnge, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, which of course centers on the ownership of these same bulls. The translation I read from is by Thomas Kinsella.

The other books referred to in this episode are by James MacKillop: the Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology and Myths & Legends of the Celts

Other episodes on Celtic mythology ⁠are here⁠.

Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack, where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone.

Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to [email protected].

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Human Voices Wake UsBy Human Voices Wake Us