Fionn mac Cumhaill: The Hero Who Tasted the Salmon of Wisdom
An outlawed child hiding in the forests of Ireland would one day burn his thumb on a fish — and gain the wisdom of the world.
Long before he became the leader of Ireland's greatest band of warriors, Fionn mac Cumhaill was simply a boy in danger, hunted through the woods for a war he had not started. His father, Cumhall, had led the Fianna, a company of roving hunter-warriors devoted to the High King, but Cumhall's rivals in the rival Clan Morna wanted him dead. When Cumhall abducted Muirne, daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, after her father refused their marriage, the High King Conn Cétchathach outlawed him. The resulting Battle of Cnucha ended with Cumhall slain by Goll mac Morna, who then seized leadership of the Fianna for himself.
Muirne was pregnant when her father turned against her, ordering that she be burned. Conn intervened and placed her under the protection of Fiacal mac Conchinn, whose wife Bodhmall — Cumhall's own sister and a druid — sheltered her. There, Muirne gave birth to a son she named Deimne, meaning 'sureness' or a young deer.
But the child of Cumhall was not safe for long. Goll and the sons of Morna hunted the boy and his brother Tulcha, forcing Muirne to give him into the care of Bodhmall and a warrior woman named Liath Luachra. The two women raised him in secret in the forest of Sliabh Bladma, teaching him to fight and to hunt from the age of six, always ready to flee if his enemies drew near.
As he grew, Deimne wandered from king to king seeking service, hiding his true identity. Each time a lord discovered he was Cumhall's son, he sent the boy away, fearing he could not protect him from the Clan Morna's wrath.
It was during this wandering life that Deimne came to study under the poet Finn Éces, known as Finnegas, who lived near the River Boyne. For seven years, Finnegas had fished at a place called Fec's Pool, chasing a salmon prophesied to grant total knowledge to whoever ate it. When at last he caught the fish, he instructed his young pupil to cook it for him — untouched.
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