have cut out shall be

[gap: meaning of text unclear/extent: one word]

’.

The two halves of war

As I mentioned, the two goddesses show very different attitudes towards war and fighting. The only mention of Brigit in the tale of how the Tuatha de Danann defeated the Fomorians involves the death of her son:

Now that was harmful to the Fomorians, so they told a man of them to inspect the battle and the (custom) of the Tuath Dea, namely Ruadán son of Bres and of Brígh the Dagda’s daughter. For he was a son and a grandson of the Tuath Dé…He was sent again to kill one of the artists, even Goibniu. From him he begged a spear… Now after the spear had been given him, Ruadán turned and wounded Goibniu.But he plucked out the spear and cast it at Ruadán, so that it went through him, and he died in the presence of his father in the assembly of the Fomorians. Then Brígh comes and bewailed her son. She shrieked at first, she cried at last. So that then for the first time crying and shrieking were heard in Erin. Now it is that Brígh who invented a whistle for signalling at night.

Unlike the bloodthirsty goddess who urges men on to war, Brigit has to deal with the aftermath, weeping over her dead son. She also represents an alternative; her marriage to Bres was an attempt at a peaceful solution.

(The Morrigan also lost a son, Mechi, who was killed by Mac Cecht. Apparently he had three serpents