one chosen belonged by race partly to the Fomori and partly to the Tuatha Dé; he was son of Bres the Fomorian and Brig daughter of the Dagda, one of the leaders of the Tuatha Dé in the war. He was called Ruadán, and he readily got access to the camp of the Tuatha Dé and visited the forge, where he found their smith Goibniu, whose name makes in the genitive case Goibnenn, the etymologic and inflectional equivalent of the Welsh Govannon; he then gives the Fomori a full account of the celerity with which Goibniu and his fellow-artificers despatched their work. The Fomori send Ruadán back with orders to kill the smith; so Ruadán asks Goibniu to make him a spear, and the smith complies. Ruadán receives the spear duly finished; but just as he was starting to go away, he suddenly turned round and hurled his new spear at its maker; Goibniu was wounded, but not so as to prevent his throwing the spear back at Ruadán in such a way that it sped right through him; Ruadán was nevertheless able to reach his friends, when he fell dead at his father's feet in the assembly of the Fomori. His mother Brig comes and makes for her son a loud lamentation, which is specially described as beginning with a scream and ending with a wail; for it was then, we are told, that wailing and screaming were heard in Erinn for the first time.[1] Such is the story of Ruadán; and the wail and scream, so emphasized in it, refer to the elaborate 'keening,' or peculiar and far-reaching cry which used to be raised on the occasion of a death in the family
- ↑ Harl. 5280, fol. 68a: Tic Bric ⁊ caines amarbnad (?)eghis ar tós goilis fodeog Conud and sin roclos gol ⁊ egem artos anerinn Is si din anprich sin roairic feit. &c.
