"
Perhaps it is part of the wealth of those "seven monarchs" that now lies
sunken in Broomlee Lough. Did some one, greatly daring, "adventure that
treasure to win," and succeed in his attempt? Tradition tells that a
dweller in Sewingshields Castle, long ago, being compelled to flee the
country, and unable to bear away with him his hoard of gold, resolved
to sink it in the lough. Rowing, therefore, far out into deep water, he
hove overboard a chest containing all his treasure, putting on it a
spell that never should it be again seen till brought to land by aid of
"Twa twin yauds, twa twin oxen, twa twin lads, and a chain forged by a
smith of kind."
Long centuries the treasure remained unsought; yet all men might know
exactly where lay the chest beneath the waves, for it mattered not how
fierce blew the gale, above the gold the surface of the water was ever
unbroken. At last there came one who heard the tradition, and set about
the task of recovering the sunken chest. The twin horses, twin oxen, and
twin lads he procured readily enough, but to find a smith of kind was
not so easy--"a smith of kind" being a blacksmith whose ancestors for
six generations have been smiths, he himself being the seventh
generation. But this, too, at length was found, and the smith forged the
necessary length of chain.
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