GARTINCABEE 



the passes : escape seemed impossible, and Bruce 

 caused his men to separate into small companies, 

 so as to make subsistence easier. But he appointed 

 a day when they were all to muster at the hill now 

 called Craigencallie, on the eastern shore of lonely 

 Loch Dee. Here, in a solitary cabin, dwelt a widow, 1 

 the mother of three sons, each by a different husband, 

 and named Murdoch, Mackie and MacLurg. 



The King arrived first, and alone, at the 

 rendezvous. Weary and half-famished, he asked the 

 widow for some food ; nor asked in vain, for, said 

 she, all wayfarers are welcome for the sake of one. 

 "And who may that one be?" asked the King. 

 "None other than Robert the Bruce/' quoth the 

 goodwife, " rightful lord of this land, wha e'er gain- 

 says it. He's hard pressed just now, but hell come 

 by his own, sure enough." 



This was good hearing for the King, who made 

 himself known at once, was taken into the house 

 and sat down to the best meal he had eaten for 

 many days. While he was so employed, the three 

 sons returned, whose mother straightway made them 

 do obeisance to their liege lord. They declared their 

 readiness to enter his service at once, but the King 

 would put their prowess as marksmen to the test 

 before engaging them. Two ravens sat together on 

 a crag a bowshot off; the eldest son, Murdoch, 

 let fly at them and transfixed both with one 



1 The name Craigencallie signifies in Gaelic " the old woman's crag," and is cited 

 in evidence of the truth of the legend. 



51 



