“Woe to the coward that ever he was born,
who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn.”

With these words, the horse dealer known as Canobie Dick was swept back out of the passage under the Eildons and onto the hillside. His effort to wake the Sleepers beneath the hills had failed and they will sleep on until some other would-be hero comes and makes a different choice.

This tale from the Scottish Borders echoes the story of Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland, in which Sir Guy the Seeker is offered a similar choice. It's also a familiar story in many parts of the British Isles: the tale of the Sleeping Knights beneath the hill, with their king at the centre, waiting to be woken, either by some great need of their nation or a questing hero.

In the Eildons, as in most of these stories, the king is Arthur and the knights those of the Round Table. In this version, Dick's guide is said to be True Thomas the Rhymer, who has his own story around and beneath the story-filled three peaks of the Eildons.

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