By the shores of a wide, dark loch in the ancient land of Scotland, there once stood a castle of grey stone. Inside the castle lived two sisters, daughters of a noble lord. The elder sister was tall and fair, with hair like spun gold, but her heart was cold and full of envy. The younger sister was gentle and kind, with eyes as blue as the loch water, and she was loved by all who knew her. A handsome prince from a neighbouring kingdom came to visit the castle, and he was charmed by the younger sister's grace and beauty. He asked for her hand in marriage, and the lord agreed. The elder sister's jealousy burned like a fire, and she began to plot a terrible revenge.

One morning, the elder sister coaxed the younger one to walk with her along the banks of the loch. 'Come, dear sister,' she said, 'let us see the swans and the reeds before your wedding day.' The younger sister, trusting and unsuspecting, went with her. As they stood on a grassy bank above the water, the elder sister pushed her with all her might. The younger sister stumbled and fell into the dark loch. She cried out, but the elder sister only watched as the water closed over her head. The younger sister sank beneath the surface, her golden hair spreading like a halo in the murky depths. The elder sister returned to the castle alone, weeping false tears and telling everyone that her sister had slipped and drowned.

Days passed, and the prince mourned his lost love. But the elder sister comforted him, and soon she began to wear the younger sister's dresses and jewels. She even tried to speak in her gentle voice. The prince, still grieving, did not notice the change at first. Meanwhile, a wandering harper came to the castle. He was a man who could make music from anything, and he often walked by the loch, listening to the wind and the waves. One evening, as he sat by the water, he saw a strange sight. A swan glided towards him, and in its beak it carried a long, golden hair. The swan dropped the hair at his feet, then turned and vanished into the mist.

The elder sister returned to the castle alone, weeping false tears and telling everyone that her sister had slipped and drowned.

The harper picked up the golden hair and felt a deep sadness. He knew it belonged to the drowned sister. He took the hair and fashioned it into a string for his harp. When he plucked that string, it sang a sorrowful song in a voice that was not his own. The song told the story of the two sisters, of the jealousy and the murder by the loch. The harper went to the castle and played his harp before the lord, the prince, and the elder sister. As the harp sang, the elder sister's face turned pale, and she tried to run away, but the music followed her. The truth was revealed to all, and the elder sister was banished from the kingdom.

The prince, heartbroken anew, ordered a monument to be built by the loch in memory of his true love. The harper's song was sung for generations, a warning against envy and cruelty. The loch itself became a place of remembrance, where the reeds whispered the story of the gentle sister who was betrayed. The tale of Binnorie, as it came to be known, teaches us about the dangers of jealousy and the power of truth to rise from the depths. For Year 7 readers, this story shows how archetypes like the jealous sibling and the innocent victim appear in folklore across cultures, and how the setting of the loch becomes a symbol of both death and revelation.