thumb. Cúldub from the síd stole the food of the Féinn on three successive nights, but was caught by Fionn, who also followed a woman who had come from the síd to obtain water. She shut the door on his thumb, which he extricated with difficulty; and then, having sucked it, he found that he knew future events.20 In another account, however, part of his knowledge came from drinking at a well owned by the Tuatha Dé Danann.21
Folk-tale versions of Flonn's youth resemble the literary forms, with differences in detail. Cumhal did not marry, because It was prophesied that if he did he would die In the next battle; yet having fallen In love with the king's daughter, he wedded her secretly, although a Druid had told the monarch that his daughter's son would dethrone him, wherefore he kept her concealed—a common folk-tale incident. As his death was at hand Cumhal begged his mother to rear his child, but it was thrown Into a loch, from which it was rescued by its grandmother, who caused a man to make them a room in a tree and, to preserve the secret, killed him. When the boy was fifteen, she took him to a hurilng-match, and the king, who was present, cried, "Who is that fin cumhal ('white cap')?" The woman called out, "Fin mac Cumhal will be his name," and again fled, this being followed by the thumb incident with the formula of Odysseus and the Cyclops, in which a one-eyed giant is substituted for Finnéces. Later, Fionn fought the beings who threw down a dún which was In course of construction and for this obtained the king's daughter, while the heroes killed by these beings were restored by him and became his followers. 22 Scots ballad and folk-tale versions contain some of these Incidents, but vary much as to Cumhal. In one he goes to Scotland and defeats the Norse, and there sets up as a king; but Irish and Norse kings entice him to Ireland, persuade him to marry, and kill him in his wife's arms. His posthumous son Is carried by his nurse to the wilds, and then follows the naming Incident and that of
