Note 3 — Chapter VII · Dragon Folk-stories
Reading edition
In Gaelic legend the salmon is the source of wisdom and of the power to foretell events. Finn (Fionn) tastes of the “Salmon of Knowledge” when it is being cooked, and immediately becomes a seer. Michael Scott, in like manner, derives wisdom from the “juices” of the white snake. The salmon is, in Gaelic, a form of the dragon. The dragon of Lough Bel Séad3 (Lake of the Jewel Mouth), in Ireland, was caught “in the shape of a salmon”.