SCOTCH STANDING STONES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13286, 19 September 1906, Page 10

SCOTCH STANDING STONES.

IN an article in the Scotsman on superstitions attached to standing stones in Scotland reference ■is made to a quaint and pretty tradition existing at Burghead, in' the province of Moray,, regarding a stone called the Cradle Stone. Its original position is unknown, but it now stands in the south-east wall of the burial-ground there. On its upright surface, a hollow, cup-like," and over two inches' deep, has been worn' quite round and smooth. >

"This hollow." writes Dr. (now Sir) Arthur Mitchell, "has been produced by the children of Burghead, who are in the habit, of striking the spot with a beach-stone, and then quickly putting their oars to the, place, where the sound of a rocking cradle, and the crooning of an old woman hushing the child to sleep arc heard as if coming from a cavern deep tinder ground." That witches wore credited with the power of flying through the air on Satanic behests* and.carrying boulders or great stones and then dropping them i.-> an ancient, and widely-spread legend. The story is connected with several districts in Scotland. In Forfarshire, to the south-west of Cairn Conan, stood the Catild Stan© o' Crafts; it was "dropped by an Amazon in. her airy journey across country out of her aprouful of stones." Being on tho march between St. Vigoans and Carmylio, this monolith is also known as. the Harostone. s Tho Nine Stanes is the name by which several circles arc popularly known, even iii spite of the fact that the. circle really possesses more than " nine or less. In a dense fir plantation at Garrol, on the estate of Durris, Kincardineshire, is a circle of 12 stones; yet tho residents in the district speak of them as the Nine Stanes. In Casteltown, Roxburghshire, is the famous Nine Stano Rig—immortalised in the famous ballad of Barthram's dirge. Here- was oneo a circle of eleven stones, and tradition, handed down in Leyden's ballad of Lord Soulis, states that between two of these stones was placed the bar upon which hung the cauldron into which that, notorious so-called necromancer" was immersed and boiled to death. . In Urquhart, Elginshire, are still to be seen the remains of a. noble circle which must have contained at least twelve stones, yet it has for long gone by tho name of the Nine Stanes. The De'il's Stanes is an.other of its titles;, and the inquisitive antiquary is told that if you walk thrice round the stones at midnight "the de'il" will appear. One of the stones of this circle was many years ago removed by the tenant of an adjoining farm, who, during the night after, was seized with qualms of conscience and such uncanny forebodings that, the very next day, he 1 proceeded to restore the stone to its original site. ■On the road, however, the horse fell at a steep brae, and, the great stone rolling off the cart, was there buried by the farmer, whoso peace of mind, let us hope, was to some extent restored by this action.