When Billy Beg's mother dies, and his new stepmother takes against him, and against his bull, the young prince and his companion must flee, setting off at a gallop for parts unknown. Aware that he will be slain by the third bull opponent he fights, in the course of their journey, Billy's taurine friend instructs him to make a belt out of his hide, once he is dead, and to take the napkin from his left ear, and the stick from his right. These magical items, which prevent him from being killed (the belt), provide him with food (the napkin), and give him the strength to defeat his enemies (the stick, which turns into a sword), allow Billy to defeat three giants, as well as the dragon which threatens a local princess's life...

After encountering this traditional Irish tale, which is reminiscent in some ways of Cinderella (the princess recognizes her savior by means of his shoe), and closely mirrors other stories of magical bull companions, such as the Norwegian Kari Woodenskirt, in Shirley Climo's The Irish Cinderlad, I decided to track down some other variants, beginning with this 1994 Ellin Greene retelling. There is also a version done by Daniel Curley in 1978 (Billy Beg and the Bull), although I have not yet had the chance to look through it. This adaptation is taken from the version found in Seumas MacManus' 1899 collection, In Chimney Corners: Merry Tales of Irish Folk-Lore, and is well told, and appealingly illustrated. I was particularly interested to see that Greene retained the traditional "runs" found in many Irish tales ("They knocked the soft ground into hard, and the hard into soft, the soft into spring wells, the spring wells into rocks, and the rocks into high hills"), and impressed that she specified this, in her brief, but informative foreword. ( )

Interesting version of Cinderella because this story does have the lost slipper. It also is about a boy with a female in threat of death if someone doesn't save her. Slightly different than the female version but similar enough to be called a tell of Cinderella. The bull friend/pal is intersting, it's like a fairy godmother that is later killed but the magic lives on in the skin of the bull. I also do not understand why the boy dresses up in the end in rags. I read this part several times, but I can only assume it is because he didn't want the girl to simply know it was him? It seems odd, because he eventually confesses and he knew the missing slipper was his. ( )