A boatman from one of the southern islands was long detained in Lewis by adverse winds. He was courting a witch’s daughter, and applied to her mother for a favourable wind. He gave her a pound of tobacco, and, assisted by neighbouring witches, after three days’ exertion, she produced a string with three knots upon it. The first knot was called ‘Come gently’ (_Thig gu fòill_), and when he loosened it, as he left the shore, a gentle breeze sprang up. The second knot was called ‘Come better’ (_Teann na’ s fhèarr_), and on its being untied the breeze came stiffer. As he neared the harbour, he out of curiosity loosened the last knot, the name of which was ‘Hardship’ (_Cruaidh-chàs_). A wind came “to blow the hillocks out of their places” (_séideadh nan cnoc_), and sent the thatch of the houses into the furrows of the plough-land, and the boatman was drowned. In Harris, they say the boat was drawn up on land and secured before the last knot was untied. She was capsized and smashed to pieces. The following, known as “Big Macmhuirich’s Supplication” (_Achanaich Mhic Mhuirich Mhòir_), is another form of the Celtic belief. ‘Macpherson of power’ (_Mac-Mhuirich nam buadh_), a noted wizard in South Uist, was on a passage by sea on a calm day. The skipper said to him, “Ask for a wind, Mac-Vuirich.” He did so, saying: “An east wind from the calm aether, As the Lord of the elements has ordained, A wind that needs not rowing nor reefing, That will do nought deceitful to us.” “Weak and trifling you have asked it,” said the skipper, “when I myself am at the helm.” Mac-Vuirich answered: “A north wind hard as a rod, Struggling above our gunwale, Like a red roe sore pressed, Descending a hillock’s narrow hard head.” “It does not attain to praise yet,” said the skipper, and Mac-Vuirich went on: “If there be a wind in cold hell, Devil; send it after us, In waves and surges; And if one go ashore, let it be I, And if two, I and my dog.” A sea came, that rolled the boat’s stern over her bows, and all were drowned but Mac-Vuirich and his dog. The power of this wizard over the elements was also shown on another occasion. The MacRanalds were coming to attack the MacNeills of Barra, to whom Mac-Vuirich was favourable. Their boat was seen coming along the wild and rocky coast on the west of Skye, and was sunk by the mighty wizard uttering the following words: “A south-west wind toward Eiste point, Mist and rain, Clan Ranald on a breaking board, I reck it not; A narrow unsteady vessel, A lofty pointed sail, A lading of empty barrels, And bilge-water to the thwarts, A weak irascible crew Having no respect one for another.” As might be expected, such a boat did not go far before sinking.