The Coraniaid Hearing Aid

"The Coraniaid [kɔˈranjaid] are a race of beings from Welsh mythology.

They appear in the Middle Welsh prose tale Lludd and Llefelys, which survives in the Mabinogion and inserted into several texts of the Brut y Brenhinedd, a Welsh adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

The Coraniaid figure in the tale as one of three plagues that affect Britain during the reign of King Lludd.

They are characterized by a sense of hearing so acute that they can hear any word the wind touches, making action against them impossible."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraniaid

"The name Coraniaid appears to be related to the Welsh word corrach (plural corachod), translated as "dwarf" and its adjective form corachaidd, translated as "stunted" or "dwarfish". Middle Welsh orthographical variants include Coranyeit and Coranneit.

In the tale, the Coraniaid cannot be injured because their hearing is so sharp that they can hear any sound that the wind carries, and can thus avoid danger.

 With the help of a long horn that muffles their conversation, Lludd asks his brother Llefelys, king of France, for advice on the problem. Llefelys tells him that a certain insect crushed up and mixed with water is deadly to the Coraniaid, but harmless to the Britons.

 Lludd crushes up the insects and calls a meeting of all his people and all the Coraniaid, then throws the concoction over the whole crowd, thereby killing the Coraniaid without harming his people. He saves some of the insects for breeding in case the plague ever returns to Britain."

"he Coraniaid also appear in the Welsh Triads. Triad 36, which clearly refers back to Lludd and Llefelys, refers to them as one of the "Three Oppressions" that arrived in Britain and stayed there, and adds that they "came from Asia".

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"The plagues of Lludd’s reign"


"The first plague was that of the Coranians a race of dwarfs 'from Asia' who may represent the Romans

***


The second was that of the white and red dragons. One of the dragons represented the Brythons, while the other represented the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain.

 On the eve of May Day, the two dragons would begin to fight."

The White Dragon would strive to overcome the Red Dragon, making the Red cry out a fearful shriek which was heard over every Brythonic hearth. This shriek went through people’s hearts, scaring them so much that the men lost their hue and their strength, women lost their children, young men and the maidens lost their senses, and all the animals and trees and the earth and the waters, were left barren.

 The plague was finally eradicated by catching the dragons and burying both of them in a rock pit at Dinas Emrys in Snowdonia, north Wales, the securest place in Britain at that time.

 The dragons were caught by digging out a pit under the exact point where the dragons would fall down exhausted after fighting. This place was at Oxford, which Lludd found to be the exact centre of the island when he measured the island of Britain.

 The pit had a satin covering over it and a cauldron of mead in it at the bottom. First, the dragons fought by the pit in the form of terrific animals. Then they began to fight in the air over the pit in the form of dragons. Then exhausted with the fighting, they fell down on the pit in the form of pigs and sank into the pit drawing the satin covering under them into the cauldron at the bottom of the pit whereupon they drank the mead and fell asleep.

The dragons were then wrapped up in the satin covering and placed in the pit to be buried at Dinas Emrys."

***

The third plague was the plunder committed by a giant who wore strong, heavy armour and carried a hamper. His nocturnal entrance was heralded by soporific illusions and musical sounds which lulled the members of Lludd’s Court to sleep. 

Once the court was asleep, he would put all the food and provisions of meat and drink of Lludd’s Court into his commodious hamper and take it away with him.

This recurring theft constituted the third plague of Lludd’s reign. Lludd was only able to stop the recurring theft by confronting the intruder.

 He was able to avoid falling asleep to the soporific illusions and musical sounds by frequently dipping his head in a vessel of cold water by his side.

 Upon confronting the magician, a fierce encounter ensued in which glittering fire flew out from their arms until Lludd overcame the magician. Thereupon, Lludd granted him mercy and made him his loyal vassal."

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludgate


"Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, Ludgate Circus and Ludgate Square.

Despite the claim by the Norman-Welsh Geoffry of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae that Ludgate was so-called having been built by the ancient British king called Lud—a manifestation of the god Nodens—the name is believed by later writers to be derived from "flood gate" or "Fleet gate" from "ludgeat", meaning "back gate" or "postern", or from the Old English term "hlid-geat" a common Old English compound meaning "postern" or "swing gate"

The Romans built a road along the north bank of the River Thames westwards through the gate later called Lud Gate as part of the fortifications of London.

Ludgate is mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136. According to the pseudohistorical work the name comes from the Welsh King Lud son of Heli whom he claims also gave his name to London."

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"London" is an ancient name, already attested in the first century AD, usually in the Latinised form Londinium;for example, handwritten Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio ("in London").

Over the years, the name has attracted many mythicising explanations. The earliest attested appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136.

 This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London


 Peter Schrijver has specifically suggested, on these grounds, that the name originally meant 'place that floods (periodically, tidally)"
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"Lud (Welsh: Lludd map Beli Mawr), according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary History of the Kings of Britain and related medieval texts, was a king of Britain in pre-Roman times who founded London and was buried at Ludgate. He was the eldest son of Geoffrey's King Heli, and succeeded his father to the throne

"Lud's name was claimed by Geoffrey of Monmouth to be the origin of Ludgate (named Porth Llydd in the Brut y Brenhinedd), a major gateway into the City of London, as well as of the name of London itself (the true etymology of Ludgate is from the Old English term "hlid-geat"a common Old English compound meaning "postern" or "swing gate"



lud (lʌd)
n

(Law) lord (in the phrase my lud, m'lud): used when addressing a judge in court
interj

archaic an exclamation of dismay or surprise

***

"The Welsh Nudd is also cognate, and it is likely that another Welsh figure, Lludd Llaw Eraint (Lludd of the Silver Hand), derives from Nudd Llaw Eraint by alliterative assimilation.

 The legendary British king Lud may therefore ultimately be derived from Nodens, traditionally associated with the city of London / Londinium (see Ludgate). The Fisher King of Arthurian legend is therefore proposed as a survival of this deity."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodens


"In Arthurian legend, the Fisher King, also known as the Wounded King or Maimed King, is the last in a long line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of the original story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin and incapable of standing.

 All he is able to do is fish in a small boat on the river near his castle, Corbenic, and wait for some noble who might be able to heal him by asking a certain question"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_King


"The Fisher King's next development occurred around the end of the 13th century in Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie, the first work to connect the Grail with Jesus. Here, the "Rich Fisher" is called Bron, a name similar enough to Bran to suggest a relationship, and he is said to be the brother-in-law of Joseph of Arimathea, who had used the Grail to catch Christ's blood before laying him in the tomb.

 Joseph founds a religious community that travels eventually to Britain and entrusts the Grail to Bron (who is called the "Rich Fisher" because he catches a fish eaten at the Grail table). Bron founds the line of Grail keepers that eventually includes Perceval."

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"Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder

 (or Ludher, later Luther) and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire."


https://www.geni.com/people/Johann-Luther/6000000002544997113

"The Luthers, who were disappointed that their son had not become a middle-class lawyer, both witnessed his transformation into one of the most famous and infamous figures of the medieval world"

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