Read Online Scottish Myths and Legends by Rodger Moffet, Amanda Moffet, Donald Cuthill, Tom Moss - Free Book Online Page B
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this would relieve the pain of childbirth, and women would also secretly let their infant have a taste of the magical water before being baptised by the minister at the church. It was thought that the water would help keep fairies away from the child, and pieces of cloth were even kept around the stones, and were later worn by the child as an anti-fairy talisman.
Royal Legends
Ask anyone what they know about Scottish Kings and they may say Robert the Bruce, or even MacBeth. With such a bloody past Scotland's rule changed hands many times whether by design of by force. Some Royal legends are well known bedtime or inspirational tales such as Bruce and his spider. Some stories have been warped by time and literary licence such as Shakespeare's version of MacBeth. But with so many great Scottish kings we have no shortage of great Royal legends.
The Stone of Destiny
By Rodger Moffet
I'm sure most of our readers have either read Dan Brown's book 'The Davinci Code' or at least watched the film of the same name. The connection with Scotland is seen as the story reaches it's climax in the enigmatic Roslyn Chapel. The tale of intrigue surrounding an ancient biblical artefact is a popular subject for storytellers, from the tale's of The Holy Grail and even films such as 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.
But strangely the story of one such artefact has so far not been turned into a Hollywood blockbuster - and yet it contains more twists and turns than the B869 to Drumbeg, more mystery than the contents of an Aberdonian's wallet. We are of course referring to the Stone of Destiny.
Its difficult to know where to begin with this story - Since it appears to have several beginnings, depending on which version of the legend of its origin you adhere to. So let's begin somewhere in the middle...
The year is 1296 - Scotland has been ravaged by Edward I 'The Hammer of the Scots' He arrives at Scone Palace in Perthshire with his army and drags off a large sandstone block (the metal rings seen on the stone were attached by them in order to remove it). They happily set off for London and have the stone installed under a specially designed throne in Westminster Abbey. This is the Stone of Destiny, a sacred artefact going back through the millennia that had been used in the coronation of Scottish Kings since Kenneth MacAlpin in 843.
Or was it?
The legend of the stone begins in the Holy Land where Jacob used it as a pillow. In the story he falls asleep on the stone and during a dream witnesses angels ascending into Heaven - there is also a story that this stone was anointed and became the pedestal for the Ark in the Temple of Solomon (so that's the 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' reference) so the stone was linked to the Ark of the Covenant.
The stone then travelled through Egypt and was brought to Spain by Gaythelus (the original Gael), A Greek prince. From there is moved to Ireland where St Patrick blessed the stone so that it could be used as a coronation stone for the kings of Ireland. The legend also says that the Stone was accompanied by Scota a Pharaoh's daughter. From Scota we get Scotia and so Scotland!
As the settlers from Ireland began to cross over to Scotland to establish the Kingdom of Dalriada the stone came with them. At first setting in Dunstaffnage or Dunbeg. But this was a troubled time with frequent Norse Raids so the stone was moved to Scone where it was safer. And there it stayed until Edward arrived in 1296.
Edward sets off to London with his prize but what did he actually take away, there are some strong suggestions that the monks realising that Edward was approaching made a quick switch - the English had no real evidence of what the stone looked like so the ancient sandstone block could well have been the real thing - except that some accounts say the stone was white marble - others still that it was of a black basalt and that the original stone bore an
Royal Legends
Ask anyone what they know about Scottish Kings and they may say Robert the Bruce, or even MacBeth. With such a bloody past Scotland's rule changed hands many times whether by design of by force. Some Royal legends are well known bedtime or inspirational tales such as Bruce and his spider. Some stories have been warped by time and literary licence such as Shakespeare's version of MacBeth. But with so many great Scottish kings we have no shortage of great Royal legends.
The Stone of Destiny
By Rodger Moffet
I'm sure most of our readers have either read Dan Brown's book 'The Davinci Code' or at least watched the film of the same name. The connection with Scotland is seen as the story reaches it's climax in the enigmatic Roslyn Chapel. The tale of intrigue surrounding an ancient biblical artefact is a popular subject for storytellers, from the tale's of The Holy Grail and even films such as 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.
But strangely the story of one such artefact has so far not been turned into a Hollywood blockbuster - and yet it contains more twists and turns than the B869 to Drumbeg, more mystery than the contents of an Aberdonian's wallet. We are of course referring to the Stone of Destiny.
Its difficult to know where to begin with this story - Since it appears to have several beginnings, depending on which version of the legend of its origin you adhere to. So let's begin somewhere in the middle...
The year is 1296 - Scotland has been ravaged by Edward I 'The Hammer of the Scots' He arrives at Scone Palace in Perthshire with his army and drags off a large sandstone block (the metal rings seen on the stone were attached by them in order to remove it). They happily set off for London and have the stone installed under a specially designed throne in Westminster Abbey. This is the Stone of Destiny, a sacred artefact going back through the millennia that had been used in the coronation of Scottish Kings since Kenneth MacAlpin in 843.
Or was it?
The legend of the stone begins in the Holy Land where Jacob used it as a pillow. In the story he falls asleep on the stone and during a dream witnesses angels ascending into Heaven - there is also a story that this stone was anointed and became the pedestal for the Ark in the Temple of Solomon (so that's the 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' reference) so the stone was linked to the Ark of the Covenant.
The stone then travelled through Egypt and was brought to Spain by Gaythelus (the original Gael), A Greek prince. From there is moved to Ireland where St Patrick blessed the stone so that it could be used as a coronation stone for the kings of Ireland. The legend also says that the Stone was accompanied by Scota a Pharaoh's daughter. From Scota we get Scotia and so Scotland!
As the settlers from Ireland began to cross over to Scotland to establish the Kingdom of Dalriada the stone came with them. At first setting in Dunstaffnage or Dunbeg. But this was a troubled time with frequent Norse Raids so the stone was moved to Scone where it was safer. And there it stayed until Edward arrived in 1296.
Edward sets off to London with his prize but what did he actually take away, there are some strong suggestions that the monks realising that Edward was approaching made a quick switch - the English had no real evidence of what the stone looked like so the ancient sandstone block could well have been the real thing - except that some accounts say the stone was white marble - others still that it was of a black basalt and that the original stone bore an
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