the salmon of knowledge came, he brought it to where Finn was, and bade him to roast it, but he bade him not to eat any of it.  And when Finn brought him the salmon after a while he said:  “Did you eat any of it at all, boy?” “I did not,” said Finn; “but I burned my thumb putting down a blister that rose on the skin, and after doing that, I put my thumb in my mouth.”  “What is your name, boy?” said Finegas.  “Deimne,” said he.  “It is not, but it is Finn your name is, and it is to you and not to myself the salmon was given in the prophecy.”  With that he gave Finn the whole of the salmon, and from that time Finn had the knowledge that came from the nuts of the nine hazels of wisdom that grow beside the well that is below the sea.

And besides the wisdom he got then, there was a second wisdom came to him another time, and this is the way it happened.  There was a well of the moon belonging to Beag, son of Buan, of the Tuatha de Danaan, and whoever would drink out of it would get wisdom, and after a second drink he would get the gift of foretelling.  And the three daughters of Beag, son of Buan, had charge of the well, and they would not part with a vessel of it for anything less than red gold.  And one day Finn chanced to be hunting in the rushes near the well, and the three women ran out to hinder him from coming to it, and one of them that had a vessel of the water in her hand, threw it at him to stop him, and a share of the water went into his mouth.  And from that out he had all the knowledge that the water of that well could give.

And he learned the three ways of poetry; and this is the poem he made to show he had got his learning well:—­

“It is the month of May is the pleasant time; its face is beautiful; the blackbird sings his full song, the living wood is his holding, the cuckoos are singing and ever singing; there is a welcome before the brightness of the summer.

“Summer is lessening the rivers, the swift horses are looking for the pool; the heath spreads out its long hair, the weak white bog-down grows.  A wildness comes on the heart of the deer; the sad restless sea is asleep.

“Bees with their little strength carry a load reaped from the flowers; the cattle go up muddy to the mountains; the ant has a good full feast.

“The harp of the woods is playing music; there is colour on the hills, and a haze on the full lakes, and entire peace upon every sail.

“The corncrake is speaking, a loud-voiced poet; the high lonely waterfall is singing a welcome to the warm pool, the talking of the rushes has begun.

“The light swallows are darting; the loudness of music is around the hill; the fat soft mast is budding; there is grass on the trembling bogs.

“The bog is as dark as the feathers of the raven; the cuckoo makes a loud welcome; the speckled salmon is leaping; as strong is the leaping of the swift fighting man.

“The man is gaining; the girl is in her comely growing power; every wood is without fault from the top to the ground, and every wide good plain.