Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/569

Rh the Fair or White, told his tutor that his name was Demne. Now the tutor's own name was also Finn, more usually called Finn Éces or Finn the Seer. The boy found the sage watching Fiac's Pool in the Boyne; for there was a prophecy that Finn was to catch one of the Salmons of Knowledge and eat of it, with the result that he should no longer be in ignorance of anything he might wish to know. He had been watching the pool seven years, when at last he caught the long-expected fish. He handed it to his pupil to cook, with strict orders not to taste of its flesh; but when it was brought him cooked, the boy was obliged to confess that he had in cooking the fish burnt his thumb, which he then put in his mouth, just as Gwion did with his scalded finger; he was next made to confess that his name was Finn; and his tutor, perceiving that all his labour had been in vain, handed him the whole salmon to eat, and pronounced him the real Finn of the prophecy. From that day forth, Finn, whenever he wanted to know anything, had only to put his thumb in his mouth and chew it.

In order to make you further acquainted with the source of Finn's knowledge, I could not do better than quote the following passage from Prof. O'Curry's Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, ij. 143: "In those very early times there was a certain mystical fountain which was called Connla's Well, (situated, so