Finn and the Druids: Good and Evil* The hero of the 12th Century Fenian Cycle of mythic tales is Finn, leader of the Fianna, a war-band dedicated to the king's protection. The stories told about Finn are interesting in the present context because in them the Druids are presented as both beneficent and harmful. When Finn was an infant, his mother Muirna entrusted him to two bondswomen, a Druidess and a wise woman, who brought him up as their foster-son. Both acted as guardians, advisers and teachers of war craft. In an episode relating to the young hero's growing supernatural powers, Finn went to learn the craft of poetry from Finnegas the Bard, and it was through him that Finn acquired the gifts of prophecy and wisdom. When the two initially met, Finnegas had just caught the Salmon of Knowledge, for whom he had been fishing for seven years in a pool. Finnegas put Finn in charge of cooking the salmon and, as he did so, the youth burned his thumb on the hot flesh. He sucked his thumb and thereby ingested all the salmon's knowledge. Although Finnegas is described as a Bard rather than a Druid, it is clear that he enjoyed characteristics commonly associated with Druidism. One of the central stories about Finn concerns a malevolent individual known as the Black Druid. One day, while hunting, Finn encountered a young woman in the form of a deer; her name was Sava. She had been metamorphosed by the evil magic of a druid because she had spurned his attentions. Finn was able — at least temporarily — to reverse the spell, and he married her. Sava produced a son, Oisin (Little Deer), who had a close affinity with stags and may himself have been a skin changer. Finn found the boy abandoned in the wilderness, after his mother had been reclaimed by her unwanted Druid suitor.
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