it chanced , long years ago , that a certain horse - dealer lived in the south of scotland , near the border . it was not very far from longtown . he was known as canonbie dick . as he went up and down the country , he almost always had a long string of horses behind him . he bought them at one fair and sold at another , generally managing to turn a good big penny by the transaction . he was a very fearless man , not easily daunted . the people who knew him used to say that if canonbie dick dare not attempt a thing , no one else need be asked to do it . one evening , he was returning from a fair at some distance from his home with a pair of horses which he had not succeeded in selling . he was riding over bowden moor , which lies to the west of the eildon hills . these hills are , as all men know , the scene of some of the most famous of thomas the rhymer 's prophecies . also , so men say , they are the sleeping - place of king arthur and his knights , who rest under the three high peaks , waiting for the mystic call that shall awake them .
canonbie dick .
who was a certain horse-dealer ?
who was a certain horse-dealer ?