He became a skilful herb doctor who could cure the king's evil and other diseases normally thought incurable. He became a prophet who could foretell, particularly to women, whatever was to happen to them. And he gained a remarkably fine voice, though Campbell says this last gift existed only in his own opinion, for when he sang others did not agree.
The tale is told in Campbell's section on the mermaid, which also tells of a Skye man who kept one for a year. The Harris version is a rare case with a named village. Eilean Anabaich is a township in North Harris.
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