The Salmon of Knowledge

The Salmon of Knowledge

Long ago when Finn was young he went to study with an old Druid called Aengus, who had dedicated the last seven years of his life to fishing, and nothing but fishing. He was trying to catch the Salmon of Knowledge. Every year, the salmon of knowledge swam into the Otherworld, ate a berry from the tree of life there, and swam back to this world again. The berries from the tree of life gave him all the knowledge of the world, and it meant that whoever ate this salmon would then have access to all knowledge, of this world and the otherworld. After seven years crouched over his fishing pole, Aengus was crooked and gnarled by the time Finn came to him, and he was skin and bone, because he neglected to do anything that would take him away from his fishing. Finn offered to stay with him, and hunt and cook for him, in exchange for Aengus taking him on as his pupil.

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