Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

220 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[257]none of it himself, but to tell him when it was ready. When thelad brought the salmon, Finegas saw that his countenance waschanged. “Hast thou eaten of the salmon?” he asked. “Nay,”said Finn, “but when I turned it on the spit my thumb was burnt,and I put it to my mouth.” “Take the Salmon of Knowledge andeat it,” then said Finegas, “for in thee the prophecy is come true.And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more.”After that Finn became as wise as he was strong and bold, andit is said that whenever he wished to divine what would befall,or what was happening at a distance, he had but to put his thumbin his mouth and bite it, and the knowledge he wished for wouldbe his.Finn and the GoblinAt this time Goll son of Morna was the captain of the Fiannaof Erin, but Finn, being come to man's estate, wished to takethe place of his father Cumhal. So he went to Tara, and duringthe Great Assembly, when no man might raise his hand againstany other in the precincts of Tara, he sat down among the king'swarriors and the Fianna. At last the king marked him as a strangeramong them, and bade him declare his name and lineage. “I amFinn son of Cumhal,” said he, “and I am come to take servicewith thee, O King, as my father did.” The king accepted himgladly, and Finn swore loyal service to him. No long time afterthat came the period of the year when Tara was troubled by agoblin or demon that came at nightfall and blew fire-balls againstthe royal city, setting it in flames, and none could do battle withhim, for as he came he played on a harp a music so sweet thateach man who heard it was lapped in dreams, and forgot all elseon earth for the sake of listening to that music. When this wastold to Finn he went to the king and said: “Shall I, if I slay thegoblin, have my father's place as captain of the Fianna?” “Yea,surely,” said the king, and he bound himself to this by an oath.Now there were among the men-at-arms an old follower ofFinn's father, Cumhal, who possessed a magic spear with a head