Finn Mac Cool and the Salmon of Knowledge

Kate Leiper 2009

There are stories told across the lands of Ireland and Scotland of a great hero and warrior Finn McCool. But the story I’m going to tell you today is not about Finn the hero, not about Finn the man but Finn the boy. And when he was a wee boy Finn’s father, Conal, was killed in a battle and his mother, fearing for Finn’s life, fearing that his father’s enemies would come to kill him as well, she gave him another name, she called him Deimne and she sent him to live with his aunts deep in the forests in the centre of Ireland and these women knew all the lore of the forests. They knew the stories of the heroes and they told these to Deimne. And they also knew the ways of the warrior and they taught these to Deimne and because he was a son of a hero and a hero to be he learned quickly and in no time at all he was able to run through the forest as fast as a deer. He was able to jump over branches the same height as himself, to run under branches that came up to his knee and at the same time pull a thorn from his foot. He was able to catch nine spears thrown by nine warriors and after all of this he was able to hold his sword strong and steady.

And his aunts knew that it was time to send him to learn poetry and the ways of wisdom, the ways of poetry with Fingus the old man who lived by the river. Now Fingus has spent the last seven years fishing in the river. He had dreamed that there was a great salmon swimming in this pool in the river, a salmon that possessed all the knowledge and wisdom of the world. And he had seen that a man called Finn would eat this salmon and would become the wisest and most knowledgeable man in all of Ireland and with the gift of seeing into the past and the gift of seeing into the future and because he was sometimes known as "old Finn" he believed that man to be himself. And when Deimne came he was pleased to have a companion, a young man so tall and so versed in the way of the warrior and he saw that Finn learned quickly to recite poems and to make poems. And he taught him how to live in the woods and how to cook and how to fish and he set Finn the task of catching this great salmon and Finn cast his nets into the pool and, although Fingus has spent seven years trying to catch this fish, it only Deimne seven days. And he pulled the net from the pool and there was a great fish. Its scales gleamed in the sunlight and Fingus looked at it and he knew that this was the salmon of knowledge, the salmon he had dreamed of.

But he said nothing to Deimne. He just said to the boy “take the fish, cook it for me, I’m tired now I’ll rest. But mind you do not eat a single morsel of this fish, do not even taste of this fish and when it’s cooked bring it to me”. So Deimne prepared the fire and he set the stones round the fire and he laid the salmon on the stones to bake and in no time at all the fish, the skin was bubbling and the fish was cooking on the stones. And he reached down and he turned it and burnt his thumb and put it in his mouth to relieve the pain and then cooked the fish and when it was ready he took to Fingus. And Fingus looked at Finn and there was a light in the boy’s eyes that hadn’t been there before and he even seemed taller than he had been before and Fingus said “did you eat any of that salmon”. “No” said Deimne “I did not” and Fingus knew he was an honest boy and he believed him and he said “something has happened, tell me what happened”. And Deimne said “I burnt my thumb I put it in my mouth when I was turning the fish over" and, at that point, Fingus knew that he wasn’t going to be the man who would become the wisest man in the whole of Ireland. He knew that this young man was the boy in the prophesy.

“Do you have another name?" he said. “Aye" said Deimne "sometimes they used to call me Finn, Finn McCool” and Fingus smiled and he said “here this salmon is yours, it’s your destiny, eat it”. And Finn McCool ate the salmon and he became as prophesied the wisest and bravest man in the whole Ireland and with the gift of seeing into the future and the gift of seeing into the past. Many are the stories of the deeds of Finn McCool but if you want to hear any more of those you’ll have to tell them yourselves, for that’s the end of my story.