"
Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a
belief among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of
poetry is always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another
reason for the place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old
prophecy that whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that
lived in the River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this
salmon was called Finntan in ancient times and was one of the
Immortals, and he might be eaten and yet live. But in the time of
Finegas he was called the Salmon of the Pool of Fec, which is the
place where the fair river broadens out into a great still pool, with
green banks softly sloping upward from the clear brown water. Seven
years was Finegas watching the pool, but not until after Finn had come
to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then Finegas gave it to Finn
to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when Finegas saw him coming
with the fish, he knew that something had chanced to the lad, for he
had been used to have the eye of a young man but now he had the eye of
a sage.
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