Brigid

Goibniu struck Ruadán down. Ruadán was the son of Brigit and Bres mac Elatha, one of the early kings of Ireland. Brigit came to the battlefield after his death and began to mourn him.

Her grief took the form of a repeated cry for Ruadán. She lamented him in a manner that had not been heard before. The cry became known as keening, from the Irish word caoin, meaning lamenting. Keening later became the traditional funeral lament used at Irish funerals.

Goibniu, also called Goibne, Gaibnenn, or Gobnenn, was the smith of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the tribe of the goddess Danu. He was one of three gods of craft. In another story, he made a silver arm for Nuada after the king lost his arm in battle. When the arm was attached to the stump, it worked like a real arm.

In another telling, Ruadán was discovered spying on an enemy and was fatally injured. His mother came to the battlefield and uttered the cries that became keening. This telling named Brigit as Ruadán’s mother, but it did not name Goibniu as the person who injured him.