Salmon Carving and Story

[Dennis Wilson]

           An Bradan Feasa, The Salmon of Knowledge

Sculpture by Morris Koppels

Chipcarving by Dennis Wilson

 

Now in Ireland in the ancient of days when wizards and fairies and poets ruled the earth, and

when dragons could speak, and often did, there lived near the River Boyne a poet, Finegas, who was also a druid and a leprechaun. Finegas tried for seven years to catch and eat the salmon of knowledge who lived in the Well of Wisdom, a pool on the Boyne, for it was Finegas’ great desire to have all the world’s knowledge which the salmon possessed. The salmon had learned to feed on the nine holy hazelnuts that had dropped into the pool from the nine holy hazelnut trees that surrounded it, and thereby the salmon had become the world’s wisest creature, far wiser than even Finegas himself.

Frustrated after all that time, Finegas asked his student, Finn McCool to try to catch the salmon and cook it for his master’s dinner. Remarkably, Finn made the catch. Being a dutiful student, Finn cooked the salmon for Finegas, and, testing it to see if it was done, touched the cooked and still very hot salmon. Licking his burned finger, Finn obtained some of the salmon’s knowledge from the slight bit of fish oil he tasted. Finn explained to Finegas what had happened, and Finegas realized that his student now possessed the wisdom of the fish and gave him the whole fish to eat.

And that was how Finn McCool gained all the world’s knowledge and the wisdom to use it well. He became leader of his clan, the Fianna, the great heroes of Irish mythology, saved many of the Fianna from their enemies and from the dragons which freely roamed the land. Today we still read of the Fianna’s heroic deeds.

Now did the dragons, wizards, fairies and leprechauns really exist? OF COURSE! Do poets exist? OF COURSE! Do heroes exist? OF COURSE! Do knowledge and wisdom exist? OF COURSE! Let’s hope that today, like Finegas, we keep trying to capture the knowledge and wisdom that nature offers us, and learn, too, from his student Finn McCool who came to understand the value and application of the greatest of nature’s gifts:  knowledge and wisdom.

By the way, salmon, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, is one of the healthiest fish available. It’s much better for you than hamburgers, potato chips and ice cream. Just tellin’ ya.

I hope you enjoy my chip carved interpretation of the salmon with its Celtic Tree of Knowledge and Celtic Knot designs. Look hard and you may even see a hazelnut in its mouth.

 

Dennis Wilson

Chestertown, NY

November 15, 2019

 

 

 

 

[mawchiper]

Is there a pattern for this carving?  would love to have the outline to the fish to carve and put my special touch to it

[Dennis Wilson]

Hi,

I don’t have a pattern. A friend of mine sculpted the 36″ long 20lb. basswood salmon in his workshop and I found the patterns in Celtic design books and on the internet. Note that all the fins are sculpted separately and fit into holes in the body. Thanks for your interest! My salmon is currently on exhibit in a gallery in Glens Falls, NY and is attracting a lot of attention, so much so that I am encouraged to consider having both a whale and a tuna of similar size or even bigger sculpted for me. The whale will tell the story of Jonah in chip carving and the tuna will be chip carved with Polynesian patterns. Best of luck if you embark on a similar project.

Dennis

 

 

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