This story has been passed down four generations to me!
One sunny evening, in the early 1940’s as the sun was setting, my
great grandmother set out to do her daily chores on the farm. She
walked through the rough grazing grounds to come to the nearby
lake called Trusk Lough, it is situated outside Ballybofey in County
Donegal.
The sun was glistening on the water, it was a beautiful calm day, she
had to bring the cattle home back along a track to the byre for the
cows to be milked. She counted all the cattle and there were six but
one of them was over drinking water from the lough, she turned
around to look at the other five and next thing she knew the cow
was going deep down into the water! She panicked and started to cry
so she sat down on a stone wondering how she was going to tell her
uncles that the red cow had drowned.
After a while, she got up and walked towards the house with the
cattle feeling fearful of having to tell her uncles their cow was gone.
She glanced back as she dried her tears one more time towards the
lake and she could see at the far side of the lake to her amazement
the cow was shaking herself and climbing out onto the grass, she
stood and watched as she made her way around the lake. My great
grandmother cried with joy and waited for the cow to join them, she
was always amazed of how the cow swam across the large lake. She
then told the story to her uncles with pride that the best milking
cow was safe after her seeing it go into the lake thinking it had
drowned.