The Salmon in the Well
The Salmon in the Well.
I have long been interested in the idea of trout or salmon in wells as often mentioned in the ancient Celtic tales of Ireland and other cultures. The practicalities of it puzzled me however. How might a fish end up trapped in a well? Might the well have been near a stream and the fish trapped when a flood which covered the well subsided? I could not envisage how or why a fish should be in a well unless under this sort of circumstance. But it seems in the end that this phenomenon had a very practical explanation after all. People put the fish into the well.
Among the many mentions of salmon in springs, wells and fountains and their attendant sacred hazel trees, there is the tale of Cormac MacArt, the son of the High King of Ireland and the Fountain of Knowledge. He had to undertake an arduous journey through the Land of Promise until he reached the royal dun or fort. Inside was a shining fountain with five streams issuing from it. Five salmon swam in the fountain and nine hazel trees grew around it. Whenever a hazel nut dropped in the fountain, one of the salmon ate the nut. When these were eaten by the salmon, they made the salmon very wise.
In another tale we meet Finn Mac Cumhail who, unable to avoid pursuit by his father's enemies decided to become a poet. A poet's status in the Celtic society was so high that being a member of that profession would shield him from harm. He took up study with a poet named Finneces who lived near the River Boyne. The River Boyne was home to a magical salmon that ate nuts from a hazel tree and was known as the Salmon of Knowledge. A druid had foretold that whoever ate first of the flesh of that magical salmon would have knowledge of all things. After many years of watching the salmon, Finneces finally caught it and told his apprentice to cook the fish.
Finn Mac Cumhail may have been a great hunter, warrior and hurley player but not the greatest cook in the world and he burned his thumb while the salmon was cooking. He sucked his thumb to ease the pain, thereby tasting the salmon of knowledge before his master. Finn Mac Cumhail received three gifts that he would become a great poet, give him magical insight, and the power of words. When Finn MacCumhall wanted to know anything thereafter, he just sucked his thumb.
The phrase “in a nut shell” relates to the hazelnut, full of compressed wisdom and knowledge. Karya, one of the first tree-specific nymphs in Greek mythology, was Nymphe of the Hazel Nut Tree. Nine of these trees are said to have surrounded a pool wherein their fallen fruits fed salmon, the emblem of philosophical retirement.
Reading through a Donegal newspaper of the 1950s I came across a court report of two young boys poaching in the Termon River which forms the boundary between Fermanagh and Donegal. As an excuse for trying to take spawning salmon, armed with the unlikely weapon of a spade, one of the boys said he was trying to get a salmon for the family well. Talking to an elderly neighbour, James Morris, Lettercran soon after, I asked why did they want a salmon for the well. Of course, he said, people often caught a small trout or salmon when out fishing and kept it alive to put in their well where it would eat all the midge larvae, pond skaters etc that would colonise the well. The fish would only grow to a size that its food supply allowed and they would remain well-sized. The result was that the household did not have to get rid of the mini-beasts from their bucket when they took water from the well. Thus a perfectly good, practical reason for having a fish in your well.
John B. Cunningham 6-9-2005 .