MacCumhal Family/Fionn

Fionn MacCumhal (pronounced Fee Un Mac Coo) Fionn Means: White Head Mac Means: Son Of ____

Fionn's Father

Fionn's Father was Cumhail MacArt Cumhal MacArt was A great Champion In the West Of Erin. A Druid Had Prophesied that If he Ever Married he would Find his Death in the Next Battle he Fought. He had had no Wife for a Long time till one day He Saw the King's Daughter, She was so Beautiful that he had forgotten All his Fear and Married her. And So in his next battle He Was Slain by Goll MacMorna.

Fionn's Mother

Fionn's mother was Muirne, granddaughter of Nuada of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the faerie race whom we know better as elves, and also called sidhe. Terrified for her new baby's survival, Fionn's mother sent him away, entrusting him to a druidess named Bodhmal and a woman warrior named Fiachel. Together, these women raised Fionn deep within the mountains of Eriu. He was trained, strenuously and in secret, and sent from place to place to keep him safe and further his education.

Training Under Finegas

When he was ten years old, Fionn ventured out to serve under several kings, calling himself Demne. When they discovered who he was, they immediately sent him away, for fear of retaliation from mac Morna. Discouraged, Fionn wandered throughout Ireland until he met an old warrior-poet named Finegas. Finegas took Fionn as an apprentice for seven years, teaching him the rhyming magic of the bards.

At the end of these seven years, Finegas caught the Salmon of Knowledge, which he had been pursuing for most of his life. Finegas gave the Salmon to Fionn to roast, warning him not to let the fish blister as it cooked. Though Fionn watched the fish carefully, a blister formed on its skin. Not wanting to disappoint his teacher, Fionn pressed the blister down with his thumb, burning himself in the process. When he put his thumb in his mouth to cool, Fionn gained magical insight into the future. From then on, he had only to chew on his thumb to receive foreknowledge of important events. Fionn also drank a mouthful of water of the well of the moon, which gave him the power of prophecy.