New research and a brand new paper. By Professor Ralph Kenna Centre for Fluid and Complex Systems The most famous story in Irish mythology is Táin Bó Cúailnge – the Cattle Raid of Cooley. It’s about a war between Connacht in the west of Ireland and Ulster in the north. When the Connacht army attacks,…
Category: Circling the Táin 01: The Quarrel of the Two Swineherds
Stories and Activities with Children 4: The Two Poet Pig-keepers
This audio story is one of the many stories that circle around the great Táin Bó Cúailnge , The cattle raid of Cooley. It is not a well known story but it is important as it is really the ‘origin’ story for the whole cycle. It is also a great tale and explains a lot!…
A Battle between Equals
In a recent episode, 6.01 – The Quarrel of The Two Swineherds, we discussed a magical battle between two equal antagonists. These were Friuch and Rucht, the swineherds attached to the chieftains of Munster and Connacht respectively. As we made clear in the podcast, this pair were in no manner low status menials. As with the cup…
Circling the Tain 01: The Quarrel of the Two Swineherds (or “Where It All Began”)
Welcome to Series 6, “Circling the Tain”. In this series, we will delve into the fascinating web of stories making up the Tain tradition, with the Tain Bó Cúailnge, “The Cattle Raid of Cooley”, at its core. We begin this exploration with the story of two talented swineherds and their shape-shifting,poetic quarrel. Join the Story…