The Thistle ,Emblem of Scotland

Go back...... back into the mists of time. Go back to before Scotland was part of the United Kingdom, then go back even further. Go back to the days when King McBeth (who was actually a good and just king) was struggling to bring the North and South of Scotland together to make the nation we now know as Scotland. Go back to the days when Scotland was wild and Viking raiders were the constant fear of every man, woman and child. Go back to the days long before the clan system was the way of life.

Dark falls early in the spring. The men still had a long way to walk the following day. So they stopped their trek when the light was fading and made camp. They cooked some hares they had caught in their traps the night before and spiced it up with the sorrel that grew everywhere. They ate it around the cooking fire then sang songs of heroes they had known and of battles they had fought. One by one the men pulled the plaids of their kilts over their heads and went to sleep on the hard lumpy ground.

It had been along hard march that day and the day before, with not even a stop for lunch. The march had taken them through the glens between the towering mountains. They had ploughed through burns and over rivers. It had been a tiring journey but unusually there had been no trouble with rougies. Now that they had reached the coast the men were in more danger than ever before.

The Scottish coast was always being raided by the Vikings, those fierce fighters who come in their great long boats. These boats looked like sea monsters coming out of the sea mists. People who lived in villages near the sea were terrified of the Vikings who murdered and stole as they pleased. They had to set up many and complicated defences against them.

But that night as the travellers slept there were no defences. Tiredness meant that even the men who were supposed to watch for any possible danger had fallen asleep. As the men slept a Viking ship landed on the nearby beach and the raiders stole out on to the sand. Their scouts told the Viking commander that a party of men slept in the long grasses nearby.

The commander decided that surprise was his best course of action. He had his fierce warriors remove their leather boots and to move forward quietly.

The night was still and the only sound was the breaking of the waves on the sand. The Vikings crawled forward toward the sleeping warriors. As they got nearer they got further away form the sea and soon the sounds of the sea were gone. Onwards they crept. Suddenly the night was pieced by a dreadful blood-curdling scream which shattered the stillness waking the sleeping travellers sending them scurrying for their weapons.

The Vikings rushed into the camp but it was too late the Scots were ready for them. A fierce battle started but was quickly ended with the Vikings running back to their boat. The Scots had won and all because in the dark one Viking had stepped on a thistle.

From that day to this The Thistle became the emblem of Scotland. No matter where you go in this big wide world when you see the thistle marked on anything it is marked as being Scottish.