An Ancient Scottish Legend

An ancient Scottish legend has this story.

A shepherd boy was tending a few sheep on the side of a mountain. One day while wandering in the wilderness, he came to a huge cave. There was a door to the cave and it was closed. And as he was looking around, he noticed a very beautiful flower.

The boy knelt down and pulled out the flower in his hands. He was admiring it when suddenly there was a loud noise. He looked up and saw the doors to the cave opening up right before his eyes. There were bright lights that shine from the inside of the mountain.

With the flower in his hands, the shepherd boy rushed inside. And his eyes widened because he saw piles of sparkling gold, diamonds, precious stones and jewellery. He began to gather them in his arms. Finally, with all that his arms could carry, the boy turned and started to leave the cave. Suddenly a voice said to him, "Don’t forget the best."

Thinking that perhaps he had overlooked some choice piece of treasure, the boy turned around and quickly picked up additional pieces of priceless treasure. As his arms literally overflowed with the treasures, he began to run out of the mountain cave. Again the voice said, "Don’t forget the best."

But the boy’s arms were filled, and he hurried outside. All of a sudden, there was a loud noise. The boy looked around and saw the mountain cave closing its doors.

A third time the shepherd boy heard the voice, and this time it said, "You forgot the best. For the beautiful flower is the key to the vault of the mountain."