And if anyone should presume to disbelieve
this tale, there lies the rock to this day, and the marks of the teeth
of the Queen's comb are on it still for all to see. The distance that
the King hurled this missile is not above a quarter of a mile, and the
pebble itself may weigh a trifle of twenty tons or so.
Local tradition tells also how once on a time there came to
Sewingshields, to visit Arthur, a great chieftain from the wild north,
one named Cumin. And when Cumin departed from the castle to go back to
his own land, he bore with him a certain gold cup that Arthur, in token
of friendship, had given to him. But sundry of the King's retainers,
having learned that the Scot was bearing away with him this cup, greatly
desired that they might themselves possess it, and they pursued Cumin,
and slew him ere he had gone many miles. Wherefore Arthur caused a cross
to be erected there on the spot where the slain man fell; and the place
is called Cumming's Cross to this day.
Of the building of the castle of Sewingshields, or Seven-shields, there
is the legend told in _Harold the Dauntless_:
"The Druid Urien had daughters seven,
Their skill could call the moon from heaven;
So fair their forms and so high their fame,
That seven proud kings for their suitors came.
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