Goats in Folklore: From the Farmyard Doctor to the Devil

When I decided to write about goats in folklore, I thought I would find plenty of content. After all, they appear in mythology. Look at Amalthea, the goat reputed to have raised Zeus in Greek myth. Or the goats associated with the goatherd in the Auriga constellation. That's before we get anywhere near the sign of Capricorn.

Yet in terms of actual folklore, there's less than you would expect. Unlike pigs, there are few specific tales about goats. Instead, they pop up almost as a side character in relation to other animals.

That said, they do have associations with fairies, and of course, we can't talk about goats without addressing the devil-shaped elephant in the room. So let's see what folklore we can find about the humble goat in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/goats-folklore/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social

'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/