The Salmon of Knowledge

Seen from above at night, a woodland pool glows beneath its surface, ringed by dark trees in the falling rain.

The Well

Before the world was as it is, there was a deep well of water.

The Well of Segais was hidden away near Carbury in County Kildare, where the rivers of Ireland were said to rise. The river Boyne came out of it first. Around the well grew nine hazel trees, and every autumn their nuts dropped into the water. Inside every nut was a share of all that was ever known.

Underwater in the dark, a great salmon drawn in fine green lines swims among drifting hazelnuts, framed by hazel leaves.

The First Man

Fintan mac Bóchra had been alive since before the flood.

He came to Ireland with the first people ever to set foot on the island. When the great flood rose, Fintan alone survived by changing his shape, first into an eagle, then a hawk, and finally a salmon. He swam up to the Well of Segais and ate nine nuts, one from each hazel tree around the well. With the ninth, he held the knowledge of the world, and away down the river Boyne he went.

On a mossy riverbank beneath tall rounded trees, an old man in a brown coat fishes the dark river with a long, bending rod.

The Poet

It was said that anyone who ate this salmon would gain all the wisdom of the world.

Finegas, a druid-poet, had given his life to this prophecy. He built his house on the bank of the river Boyne and fished every morning, trying to catch the legendary salmon of knowledge. Over time, a young boy named Fionn came to live and study with Finegas, as he hid from the men who had killed his father.

At night beneath a small moon, a great green salmon leaps from glowing golden water, a fishing line hooked in his jaw, drops of water falling around him.

The Catch

Then one morning, the water moved differently.

Finegas felt it before he could see it, a weight on the line unlike any other. He reeled in the fish, silver and glistening. He handed the fish to Fionn, told him to cook it carefully, and not to eat any of it. Then he went to rest, certain his long wait was finally over.

At night by the water, a great salmon roasts on a grill over a row of bright flames, embers rising into the dark trees, as a hand reaches in from the right with a stick to prod it.

The Thumb

The fish crackled over the fire as its skin turned golden brown.

As Fionn turned the fish over the fire, a blister developed on its skin. It grew bigger and bigger until finally it burst, spraying fat on Fionn’s thumb. Without thinking, he put his thumb to his mouth. When he brought the salmon to Finegas, the old man saw the boy’s eyes glowing like two fires. Finegas grew quiet. He asked him about the world, about things no boy could know. The boy answered every one.

In the morning among rounded green hills, an old man with long pale hair and a boy sit side by side on the grass, seen from behind, a cooked salmon beside them and a stone hut with a turf roof nearby.

The Teacher

Finegas sighed, recognising his fate. Like all teachers, he must one day be surpassed by his student.

Finegas did not fight it. He gave the boy the rest of the fish. Fionn grew up to lead the Fianna, the greatest warriors in Ireland. In the end, Finegas understood that passing on what he knew was the same as having it.