# Billy the Music — The Demi-Gods character guide

> Billy the Music in The Demi-Gods by James Stephens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Billy, XXIV Billy the Music

**First appearance:** 0005-iii

## Snapshot

A pipe-smoking, story-swapping musician whose encounter with his own guardian angel reveals the cosmic cost of a misspent life.

## Who they are

Billy the Music trades tales with Patsy and Mac Cann, a fiddler and saving man who has given up saving. When the seraph Cuchulain confronts him as his Higher Self, Billy learns that every rotten business he ever did vibrated against heaven and got his guardian angel thrown out. His rueful, sneezing, tobacco-spilling testimony anchors the human comedy of the book, showing how ordinary meanness ripples into the divine.

## Relationships

### [Patsy Mac Cann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/characters/patsy_mac_cann)

_friendship_

Billy and Patsy are friends or fellow musicians, sharing a love for music and socializing.

### [Patsy Mac Cann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/characters/patsy_mac_cann)

_friendship_

Billy and Patsy are friends or fellow musicians, sharing a love for music and socializing.

### [Patsy Mac Cann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/characters/patsy_mac_cann)

_friendship_

Billy and Patsy are friends or fellow musicians, sharing a love for music and socializing.

## In the story

### [XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xx)

A former miser turned wandering musician who joins the group and offers to play tunes.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xxi)

Tells the story of his former life as a ruthless farmer who loved money above all, and describes being exploited by market jobbers.

### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xxii)

Tells the story of his hidden gold and the robbery by two men.

### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xxiii)

Listens to Patsy's story and reacts with amusement, making a remark about the sight of Mary naked.

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xxiv)

Tells the story of his encounter with Cuchulain and his transformation from miser to wandering musician.

### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xxvi)

Modestly comments on storytelling and recalls an old storyteller from Connaught.

### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/chapters/xxvii)

Expresses interest in Cuchulain, offers to play the concertina, and then departs in a different direction from the group.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/characters/billy_the_music
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_demi_gods_se/characters