By Roan M. Runge
Published in North American journal of Celtic studies, 2025.
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Abstract

, abstract:, This paper considers two cases of women able to transform into swans in the medieval Irish texts Aided Derbforgaill and Aislinge Óenguso. Using frameworks from trans studies and animal studies, it seeks to explore the differences in outcome for the two women, with Derbforgaill dying after rejection from humans and Cáer flying away with Óengus. The paper first considers how the women are similar, before turning to the differences between them, and, in particular, the disparity between their fates. This is explored through the idea of ‘species panic’, which suggests that figures depicted as being between species can destabilise the species status of those around them. I argue that this lens shows that Derbforgaill dies because her ability to transform between species leads her to become an outsider to a human community, while Cáer survives because she is always situated within a network of Otherworld beings like herself. This leads to a conclusion about one reason transformation stories are so prevalent within medieval Irish literature: because they provide a method of exploring social relationships in a legendary setting.