The dogs were leashed together on a leash of silver set with gold and bright stones, which sparkled in the moonlight and firelight. A voice called from the air outside, 'Slender-fay, slender-fay, mountain-traveller, mountain-traveller, black-fairy, black-fairy, lucky-treasure, grey-hound, seek beyond.' When the dogs were called back they rushed out and the men followed once they had recovered their wits. There in the bright sky they saw a great host of spirits, with hounds on leash and hawks on hand. The air was full of music like the tinkling of innumerable silver bells, mixed with the voices of the host calling to their hounds. The men were so astonished they could remember only a few of the names they heard.
Carmichael explains these were the spirits of the departed on a hunting expedition, travelling west beyond the isle of the nuns, the isle of the monks, Hirt and Rockall towards Tir fo thuinn, the land under the waves, and the lands of youth and age beneath the western sea. The men's blessing on the hunters ended with the thought that it was they who had put fear and fright on the men and calves of Clanranald. This is the Highland sluagh, the host of the dead.
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