Thistles and Nettles 337 



As the geese once saved Rome, so the thistle 

 saved Great Britain, by causing a midnight alarm 

 and scaring off a midnight foe. A thousand years 

 ago the inhabitants of England and Scotland were 

 much harassed by the Danes, who sailed far up 

 the rivers in flat-bottomed boats, attacked the vil- 

 lages, destroyed the crops, seized the movables, 

 drove off the cattle, and were back in their boats 

 and away before the astonished British could col- 

 lect their thoughts and their forces, and punish the 

 marauders as they deserved. But sea-robbers as 

 the Danes were, they had a code of honor which 

 forbade them to attack a sleeping foe. On one 

 occasion, however, they were false to this tradition, 

 and landed on the shores of a Scottish river in 

 moonlight and silence, intending to surprise a sleep- 

 ing village. But as they crept stealthily upon this 

 evil errand one of them trod, with naked foot, upon 

 a thistle. He very naturally cried out, and his 

 clamor wakened the villagers, who flew to arms, 

 and drove the sea-robbers away. Thereafter the 

 thistle was honored in Scotland as the goose was 

 in Rome. It was adopted as the national flower. 

 It blooms with the rose of England and the 

 shamrock of Ireland in the floral emblem of 

 Great Britain, and many noble Scottish families 



