The Fenian Cycle

The Fenian Cycle is based around the exploits of the Irish mythological hero, Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warriors, Fianna Éireann. Fionn and his warriors lived in the forests and were known as mercenaries, bandits, and hunters.

The Fenian Cycle covers modern day Munster, Leinster, and Scotland as it is stated that Fionn travelled around during his life time and fought in both Ireland and Scotland against invaders.

The Birth of Fionn mac Cumhaill

Fionn mac Cumhaill was born into a world where he was surrounded by tragedy staring before he was even born. His parents were Muirne Muincháem of the Fair Neck (or in some versions of the stories Lovely Neck or Muiren Smooth-Neck) and Cumhall mac Trénmhoir. 

There relationship was surrounded by turmoil and led to the death of Cumhall. Cumhall approached Muirne’s father to ask for her hand in marriage, but her father refused him. Not wanting to be denied the woman he loved, Cumhall kidnapped Muirne. This went down as well as you would expect, and her father appealed to the High King, Conn Cétchathach who agreed that Cumhall was in the wrong and made him an outlaw.

At the time, Cumhall was the leader of the Fianna, which was made up of two rival clans – Clan Bascna which was the clan where Cumhall belonged and Clan Morna which was the clan of Goll mac Morna who was responsible for the death of Fionn’s father. The Fianna were supposed to serve the High King and repel invaders, but with two rival clans involved there would always be conflict behind the scenes.

 Fionn’s father was killed by Goll mac Morna in the Battle of Cnu cha. Goll replaced Cumhall as the leader of the Fianna for the next 10 years. Muirne was pregnant with Fionn at the time that Cumhall was killed, and in desperation went to her father asking to be taken in. Her father rejected her and in anger ordered his people to burn her to death. King Conn Cétchathach forbade this and put Muirne under the projection of Fiacal mac Conchiunn and his wife Bodhmall, who was the sister of Cumhall. In their care, Muirne gave birth to a son who she named Deimne (later to become Fionn) which meant young male deer.

Despite being just a child, Fion’s life did not go easily. Following killing his father, Goll mac Morna decided to finish the job of wiping out the family live by going after both Fionn and his brother, Tulcha mac Cumhall. To protect Fionn he was taken away to live with Bodhmall and her companion Liath Luachra (Grey of Luachra) in the forest of Sliabh Bladmia. These two women played a big part in who Fionn became, teaching him how to hunt and how to fight when he was very young. By the age of six, Fionn was being taught the finer points of war.

Not content to hide away from the forest, he went into service with a number of local kings. He had to disguise himself as there was still the threat of Goll hunting him down. Whenever the king whose service he was in realised who he was, they sent him away because they did not think that they were capable of protecting him from Goll and Fionn’s enemies. This meant that Fionn was forever moving on from king to king.

The Salmon of Wisdom

At the time of this story, Fionn was still known by his childhood name Demne and whilst travelling he met the poet Finn Éces (Finnegas) who was living near the River Boyne.  Finn Éces has been trying to catch the Salmon of Wisdom (Brádán Feasa) for seven years but had so far been unsuccessful. Demne stayed with Finn Éces and studied under him. In this time, Finn Éces told Demne how a prophecy had said that he was destined to catch the Salmon of Wisdom and when he succeeded ‘nothing would remain unknown to him.’

This account is found in The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn and although it does not refer to the fish specifically as the Salmon of Wisdom, it is presumed that it is. The salmon gained its knowledge by eating nuts from the Sacred Hazel Tree.

Finally, Finn Éces caught the salmon, and he ordered Demne to cook it for him. Whilst doing so, Demne burnt his thumb, and automatically put his thumb into his mouth. By doing this, he took on all the wisdom of the salmon. When Finn Éces saw what had happened, he insisted that Demne eat the entire fish and he gave the boy the name, Fionn.

From that day onwards, Fionn was able to use the salmon’s knowledge whenever the used the teinm láida whilst putting his thumb into his mouth. The teinm láida was used by the druids of Ireland as a form of divination and involved chewing or breaking open a pit or marrow. Fionn was able to access the knowledge he gained by chewing on his thumb whilst chanting incantations. This form of divination was banded by St. Patrick as he saw it as ‘giving offerings to demons.’

St. Patrick did not ban Dícheral do Chennaib (incantation from heads) which Fionn was also extremely competent at. This form of divination involved using fingertips and/or a Bodhrán (an Irish drum) and also allowed Fionn to access the wisdom gained from the salmon.  St. Patrick believed this to be harmless as it did not involve inciting Pagan rites or deities.

The knowledge Fionn gained served him well through his life and it enabled him to get revenge against Goll for the death of his father.

The Fire-breather of the Tuatha de Danann

 The Fire-breather of the Tuatha de Danann is a story that takes place during Fionn’s childhood and according to the Acallam na Senórach he was just 10 years old at the time.

The story goes that the capital city of Ireland, Tara had been plagued for 23 years by Áillen, also known as the Fire-breather of the Tuatha de Danann. Every year on Samhain (Halloween) Áillen would appear at Tara and using sleep-inducing music would lull the men of Tara to sleep before burning down the city and its treasures.

Understandably, this became a traumatic event and the King of Ireland put out a call asking which men would volunteer to protect Tara from Áillen. Fionn volunteered to make a stand and protect the city.

Fionn was able use a magical spear which he obtained from Fiacha mac Congha and this spear had the ability to protect the bearer against the sleep-inducing music of Áillen’s dulcimer, a stringed instrument played by plucking or strumming the strings.

It is said that the bearer of the spear would be protected from the sleep-inducing music by pressing the spear against the forehead or, in some versions, by inhaling a protective poison that emitted from the spear.

Whichever of these methods Fionn used, he was able to stay awake whilst the rest of the town slept and by doing so slayed Áillen putting an end to 23 years of terror.