This animal (Beathach mòr Loch Odha) had twelve legs and was to be heard in winter time breaking the ice. Some say it was like a horse, others, like a large eel.
CHAPTER VI.
SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT ANIMALS.
Buarach-bhaoi, lamprey.—The Buarach-bhaoi (lit. wild or wizard shackle), called also Buarach na Baoi (the shackle of the furious one), was believed to be a leech or eel-like animal to be found at certain fords and in dark waters, that twisted itself like a shackle round the feet of passing horses, so that they fell and were drowned. It then sucked their blood. It had nine eyes or holes in its head and back, at which the blood it sucked came out. Hence it was called Buarach-bhaoi nan sùilean claon (the furious shackle of the squinting eyes). In Skye, it was believed the animal was to be found in Badenoch. It was said to haunt the dark waters of Loch Tummel (Tethuil, hot flood, from the impetuosity of the river), in Perthshire, and was also known on the west coast of Argyllshire. The word is translated ‘lamprey’ in dictionaries, but the description suggests the tradition of some species of gymnotus or electric eel.
Cirein Cròin, Sea Serpent.—This was the largest animal in the world, as may be inferred from a popular Caithness rhyme:
“Seven herring are a salmon’s fill,
Seven salmon are a seal’s fill,
Seven seals are a whale’s fill,
And seven whales the fill of a Cirein Cròin.”