The Highland tradition is, that Thomas is in Dunbuck hill (_Dùn buic_) near Dunbarton. The last person that entered that hill found him resting on his elbow, with his hand below his head. He asked, “Is it time?” and the man fled. In the outer Hebrides he is said to be in Tom-na-heurich hill,[73] near Inverness. Hence MacCodrum, the Uist bard, says: “When the hosts of Tomnaheurich come, Who should rise first but Thomas?”[74] He attends every market on the look-out for suitable horses, as the Fairies in the north of Ireland attend to steal linen and other goods, exposed for sale. It is only horses with certain characteristics that he will take. At present he wants but two, some say only one, a yellow foal with a white forehead (_searrach blàr buidhe_). The other is to be a white horse that has got “three March, three May, and three August months of its mother’s milk” (_trì Màirt, trì Màigh, agus trì Iuchara ’bhainne mhàthar_); and in Mull they say, one of the horses is to be from the meadow of Kengharair in that island. When his complement is made up he will become visible, and a great battle will be fought on the Clyde. “When Thomas comes with his horses, The day of spoils will be on the Clyde. Nine thousand good men will be slain, And a new king will be set on the throne.”[75] You may walk across the Clyde, the prophecy goes on to relate, on men’s bodies, and the miller of Partick Mill (_Muilionn Phearaig_), who is to be a man with seven fingers, will grind for two hours with blood instead of water. After that, sixteen ladies will follow after one lame tailor,[76] a prophecy copied from Isaiah iv. 1. A stone in the Clyde was pointed out as one, on which a bird (_bigein_) would perch and drink its full of blood, without bending its head, but the River Trustees have blasted it out of the way that the prophecy may not come true. The same prophecy, with slight variation, has been transferred to Blair Athole in Perthshire. “When the white cows come to Blair, the wheel of Blair Mill will turn round seven times with people’s blood.”[77] The writer was told that the Duke of Athole brought white cattle to Blair more than fifteen years ago, but nothing extraordinary happened. Other prophecies, ascribed to the Rhymer, are, “the sheep’s skull will make the plough useless,” “the south sea will come upon the north sea,” and “Scotland will be in white bands, and a lump of gold will be at the bottom of every glen.”[78] The former has received its fulfilment in the desolation caused by the extension of sheep farms, the second in the making of the Caledonian canal, and the last in the increase of highroads and houses.