The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

The Legend of the Dark Loch. 735
When the old man had expressed himself as related
above, he rested his forehead for a minute on his staff,
then, recovering his usual equanimity, he looked at me,
with the old familiar smile overspreading his face, and said,
^' Where are you going to fish to-day, Mister Alick ?"
" I am going to try a few casts from the Maiden Stone
to the mouth of the Big River, but I'm afraid it's too calm
for fishing. See, there's not even a ripple on the water.
But can you tell me why that boulder is called the Maiden
Stone ?"
" I remember many years ago," replied he, " asking my
father the same question as I accompanied him one evening
on a fox-hunting expedition. The legend, as told by
him, is that two girls, sisters, were once washing clothes in
the loch beside the stone, when a dreadful thunderstorm
came on. One of the girls was greatly frightened, but the
other continued her occupation with seeming indifference
while the lightning flashed and the thunder pealed, and was
echoed and re-echoed by mountain and glen. At last a
flash gleamed with unusual brightness, followed by a fear-
ful crash which seemed to rend the mountains asunder.
The more timid of the sisters burst into tears, and implored
her companion either to run home with her or take shelter
till the storm had subsided. The obdurate sister, instead
of complying with the request, made a gesture indicative
of the utmost contempt ; and, at the same moment, another
flash lighted up the sky with blinding brilliancy, followed
almost instantly by a deafening peal of thunder. The
earth shook ; the waters of the lake trembled violently ;
and a huge chasm opened where the irreverent girl stood,
and her horrified sister saw her disappear into the j^awning
fissure with a heart-rending cry. The girls' father, who
had gone in search of them on the outburst of the storm,
found the survivor lying insensible by the side of the loch.
Ever since the stone has been called the Maiden Stone."
The boulder in question is a huge piece of granite that
had evidently got detached from one of the many precipices