One of the early Pictish purveyors of woad was a Pict named Rik. Rik would travel from Pictish village to Pictish rath, ballyhooing the wonderful qualities of his woad. He would shout out its benefits at the top of his voice and that was saying a mouthful, for Rik had one of, if not the, loudest voice in all of Pictdom. Eventually he became known as "Bellowing Rik", which was eventually shortened to "The Bellow" or "Bellow Rik."

And his woad WAS good. It really was top quality stuff, and Rik sold it in quantities know as "lidds." He would shout out his wares, and someone would come up and ask if he could "get a lidd of good stuff".

One tragic day Rik was set upon by brigands and riffraff. They stole his pack of herb, the few cupronickel cupronickels he had in his pouch, and murdered poor Rik. The culprits were caught and suffered the traditional Pictish penalty for murder (they were tickled to death by being tossed in a pit of giant garden slugs), but Rik was gone and worse, the location of his secret woad garden was lost forever.

The Picts lovingly prepared Rik for burial, and carried him to his Final Resting Place singing a chant composed just for the occassion. Yes, it was the first performance -- sad though the occassion was -- of that great funeral song, "Goodbye, Bellow Rik's Woad."