The dun cow is a common motif in English folklore. "Dun" is a dull shade of brownish grey.

The Dun Cow of Dunsmore Heath (an area west of Dunchurch near Rugby in Warwickshire, England) was a savage beast slain by Guy of Warwick. A huge tusk, probably that of an elephant, is still shown at Warwick Castle as one of the horns of the Dun Cow.

The fable is that this cow belonged to a giant, and was kept on Mitchell's Fold (middle fold), Shropshire. Its milk was inexhaustible; but one day an old woman who had filled her pail, wanted to fill her sieve as well. This so enraged the cow, that she broke loose from the fold and wandered to Dunsmore Heath, where she was slain by Guy of Warwick.

Isaac Taylor, in his Words and Places (p. 269), says the dun cow is a corruption of the Dena Gau (Danish region) in the neighbourhood of Warwick. Gau, in German, means region, country. If this explanation is correct, the great achievement of Guy of Warwick was a victory over the Danes, and taking from them their settlement near Warwick.

Dun (from Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn respectively, meaning fort, and cognate with Old Welsh din, from which Welsh dinas "city" is derived) is now used both as a generic term for a fort (mainly used to describe a sub-group of hill forts) and also for a specific variety of Atlantic roundhouse. In some areas they seem to have been built on any suitable crag or hillock, particularly south of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth down across the border into Northumberland.

Dúns feature prominently along some coastal areas of the West of Ireland, particularly Co. Mayo and feature in legendary Celtic tales as the forts of the tribal kings of the tuatha. The tale of the Táin Bó Flidhais features Dúns of Flidais, Dun Chiortáin and Dún Chaocháin.

Duns, as forts, appear to have arrived with the Brythonic Celts in about the 7th century BC, associated with their Iron age culture of warrior tribes and petty chieftains. Early Duns had near vertical ramparts constructed of stone laced with timber, and where this was set on fire (accidentally or on purpose) it forms the vitrified forts where stones have been partly melted, an effect that is still clearly visible. Use of Duns continued in some cases into the medieval period.

Cattle (colloquially cows) are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius. Cattle are raised as livestock for meat (beef and veal), as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals (oxen / bullocks) (pulling carts, plows and the like). Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel. In some countries, such as India, cattle are sacred. From as few as eighty progenitors domesticated in southeast Turkey about 10,500 years ago, it is estimated that there are now 1.3 billion cattle in the world today. In 2009, cattle became the first livestock animal to have its genome mapped.

Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: Bos taurus, the European or "taurine" cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); Bos indicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle. Recently these three have increasingly been grouped as one species, with Bos primigenius taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos primigenius primigenius as the subspecies.

Marc Andrew Gunn (born March 17, 1972) is a musician and podcaster. As the autoharp-playing half of the Brobdingnagian Bards, Gunn and partner Andrew McKee developed a following with weekly performances on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. This led to gigs at renaissance faires, science fiction conventions, and Celtic music festivals as well as parties and weddings for the pair. The group headlined at the Oscar party for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

With the Bards’ calendar busy, Gunn began producing the duo’s recordings. His first solo album, Soul of a Harper, appeared in 2004; he then embarked on work for Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers.

The Brobdingnagian Bards band broke up amicably on September 15, 2008, and Gunn plans to pursue a solo career.

After the Brobdingnagian Bards disbanded, Gunn began releasing several albums a year with four full-length studio albums released in 2008, three in 2009, and two in 2010.

He is also involved in an online resource called the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. The weekly publication reviews Celtic music of all varieties from Irish traditional music to Celtic rock. Two free, full-length MP3s are offered for download every week on the site. Marc is one of the few professional podcaster producing five different podcasts each month, the most-popular being the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Additionally, Gunn publishes The Bards Crier's Music Marketing and Promotion Tips Ezine, a newsletter that teaches musicians about marketing and promotion, and handles webmaster duties for a variety of sites including the Austin Celtic Association.