Late in his life, the writer Norman Macleod (1783–1862) related to one of his daughters of having heard an old Gaelic prophecy concerning the flag, and of events which took place in his childhood which were reported as examples of the prophecy being partially fulfilled. A summarised version of this prophecy was published in the late 19th century, within an account of the life of one of his sons. Soon after, in 1878, Alexander Mackenzie proposed that the prophecy as dictated by N. Macleod, may have been a fragmented remembrance of one of the prophecies of Coinneach Odhar (who is popularly known as the Brahan Seer). N. Macleod's tale of the prophecy is as follows: