A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Cormac’s host arrives carrying a great wild boar and a log. He tells the visiting king to divide both into four parts and place wood under each portion of meat. A true story is needed to cook each quarter. His own contribution explains that he has seven pigs of the same kind as the animal brought for dinner, sufficient to feed everyone through their ability to return after being killed.
The restoration depends on placing the bones back in the sty; the pig is found living there the next morning. The tale demonstrates the claim when the first quarter cooks, then continues with the hostess’s inexhaustible milk and Cormac’s family history. The host is later revealed as Manannán, linking this herd to his particular hospitality episode. Its seven animals are presented collectively rather than assigned invented names or separated into seven duplicate records. The text does not describe their colour, tusks or fighting strength, and it does not make regeneration a feature of ordinary pigs.
Origins & earliest records
The herd appears in Jacobs’s selected 1895 condensation of the Cormac visit, attributed through Alfred Nutt to O’Grady’s English version. Jacobs reports medieval manuscript witnesses for the containing tale; the directly inspected wording is his later adaptation, not a newly collated manuscript.
Records & interpretation
The account of restored bones and the cooking test are narrative evidence for renewable Otherworld food. They document a supernatural abundance motif rather than an actual agricultural practice or observed animal physiology. No procedure is offered as workable instruction.
In the literature
“it will be found alive the next morning”
How Cormac Mac Art went to Faery, pp206–207; p206; host’s first true story
The otherworld host claims seven pigs can feed everyone: returning a killed pig’s bones to the sty restores it by morning. His true account cooks one quarter of the meal. This is the host’s narrative explanation, not a herd encountered alive by Cormac.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
More Celtic Fairy Tales: How Cormac Mac Art went to Faery, pp. 206–207; note XLIV
Selected episode and relevant source note inspected. Earlier works named by Jacobs are attributed references, not falsely claimed as independently collated texts.
- 02
More Celtic Fairy Tales
Joseph Jacobs, More Celtic Fairy Tales, selected1895 London David Nutt / New York G. P. Putnam edition, PG34453. Complete named tale and relevant source-note paragraph independently read.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
More Celtic Fairy Tales
Joseph Jacobs, More Celtic Fairy Tales, selected1895 London David Nutt / New York G. P. Putnam edition, PG34453. Complete named tale and relevant source-note paragraph independently read.
- The otherworld host claims seven pigs can feed everyone: returning a killed pig’s bones to the sty restores it by morning. His true account cooks one quarter of the meal. This is the host’s narrative explanation, not a herd encountered alive by Cormac.
How Cormac Mac Art went to Faery, pp206–207; Seven renewable pigs and truth-cooked meal
This selected1895 literary witness is independently read; unshown mechanisms and missing later fates are not invented. No song, prayer or ritual formula quoted.
Primary source witness
Joseph Jacobs, More Celtic Fairy Tales, selected1895 London David Nutt / New York G. P. Putnam edition, PG34453. Complete named tale and relevant source-note paragraph independently read.
- Jacobs explicitly credits Alfred Nutt’s condensation of S. H. O’Grady’s English version in Ossianic Society volumeIII. His Whitley Stokes manuscript and early-catalogue datings are reported scholarly claims, not independent manuscript verification.
Only the relevant source/comparison paragraph read and adopted; speculative diffusion and antiquity claims not asserted as proven.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textMore Celtic Fairy Tales, selected 1895 edition: How Cormac Mac Art went to Faery, pp. 206–207; note XLIVResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.