Tha mi toilichte cluintinn bhuat a-ríthist!

Thanks for those details, Aodh and Malcolm. I don't recall the bit about the husband hearing the song first in a dream. That would clarify how he understood the import of the song when he heard a' Bhean Eudach singing it as a lullaby.

I wonder do the stories about the jealous woman being a sister of the drowned woman go far back or have they started from folklorists and collectors making a connection with this song and the Child Ballad 10, the 2 sisters? The collected stories that are published refer to the jealous woman either as a neighbour or as a servant of the married woman, but nowadays it is common for singers to say that the women were sisters. I think this is a relatively new version of the story, but I can't be sure for instance that Aodh didn't hear this tale from his granny who heard it from her granny who ...