The Great Sorrow

Know this, my children: long ago, the barghest were welcome among the Druini, and were indeed brothers and sisters, and known as the People of the Wolf. Then, as now, the Druini often fought each other, but at this time, the Wolf were led by a particulary avaracious and bloodthirsty chieftan known as Yeenoghu. Yeenoghu had found a friend in Syrsha, the treacherous leader of the viellun of a nearby land. They went to war against the Bear and Boar, who were supported by the fourth family of aes sidhe.   After many years of war, with the only winner being Death, the chief of the Wolfen tribe offered a truce and banquet. The Bear and the Boar agreed to the banquet, with the promise that prisoners would be returned to them. All agreed. At the behest of his ally, the viellun chief, Yeenoghu instructed his men to slaughter their prisoners, and to then prepare the bodies of their defeated foemen as if they were cattle. He then fed this to the leaders of all during the banquet, eating it himself with great delight.   The Boar chieftain heard the rumors of the truth, but was afraid to offend the Wolf chieftain and lose the chance for peace, and ate anyway. The elf and the Bear chief were ignorant, as were the people of the viellun and the Wolf. After the banquet and with great glee, the Wolf chief announced the truth of the matter, saying, "You have asked for the return of my prisoners, and thus have I fulfilled your request! See the charity of the Wolf!"   In horror, the elvish chief pronounced them all cursed, calling on the moon to witness the sin of cannibalism and the treachery of the Wolf. He led his people away from the place, and from the face of the moon, going to live underground among the dueregar. The viellun of Syrsha became hideous in the sight of all, and to this day it is said that they will dine on the flesh of Men without qualm.   Of the Druini, the cheiftans of the Bear and Boar were cast from their people, along with their captains who had eaten of the flesh - these were struck with the curse of the moon-sickness, assuming the form of their tokens, becoming savage for all time. The remaining Wolf, ignorant of and sickened by their chief’s cruelty, fled, unable to shed their warforms. And we have been the barghest unto this day.

— "Why the Wolf are no more," from Barghest oral history