found in Bronze Age deposits.[507] This flourishing civilisation was overwhelmed by the invasion of the Celtic barbarians.  But if the Scandinavians borrowed gold and artistic decorations from Ireland, and if the Fionn saga or part of it was already in existence, why should they not have borrowed some of its incidents, or why, on the other hand, should not some episodes have found their way from the north to Ireland?  We should also consider, however, that similar incidents may have been evolved in both countries on similar lines and quite independently.

The various contents of the saga can only be alluded to in the briefest manner.  Fionn’s birth-story belongs to the well-known “Expulsion and Return” formula, applied to so many heroes of saga and folk-tale, but highly elaborated in his case at the hands of the annalists.  Thus his father Cumal, uncle of Conn the Hundred Fighter, 122-157 A.D., wished to wed Muirne, daughter of Conn’s chief druid, Tadg.  Tadg refused, knowing that through this marriage he would lose his ancestral seat.  Cumal seized Muirne and married her, and the king, on Tadg’s appeal, sent an army against him.  Cumal was slain; Muirne fled to his sister, and gave birth to Demni, afterwards known as Fionn.  Perhaps in accordance with old matriarchal usage, Fionn’s descent through his mother is emphasised, while he is related to the ancient gods, Tadg being son of Nuada.  This at once points to the mythical aspect of the saga.  Cumal may be identical with the god Camulos.  In a short time, Fionn, now a marauder and an outlaw, appeared at Conn’s Court, and that same night slew one of the Tuatha Dea, who came yearly and destroyed the palace.  For this he received his rightful heritage—­the leadership of the Fians, formerly commanded by Cumal.[508] Another incident of Fionn’s youth tells how he obtained his “thumb of knowledge.”  The eating of certain “salmon of knowledge” was believed to give inspiration, an idea perhaps derived from earlier totemistic beliefs.  The bard Finneces, having caught one of the coveted salmon, set his pupil Fionn to cook it, forbidding him to taste it.  But as he was turning the fish Fionn burnt his thumb and thrust it into his mouth, thus receiving the gift of inspiration.  Hereafter he had only to suck his thumb in order to obtain secret information.[509] In another story the inspiration is already in his thumb, as Samson’s strength was in his hair, but the power is also partly in his tooth, under which, after ritual preparation, he has to place his thumb and chew it.[510]

Fionn had many wives and sweethearts, one of them, Saar, being mother of Oisin.  Saar was turned into a fawn by a Druid, and fled from Fionn’s house.  Long after he found a beast-child in the forest and recognised him as his son.  He nourished him until his beast nature disappeared, and called him Oisin, “little fawn.”  Round this birth legend many stories sprang up—­a sure sign of its popularity.[511] Oisin’s fame as a poet far excelled that of Fionn, and he became the ideal bard of the Gaels.