CAWDOR CASTLE 235 



funds in hard cash. Next so the story goes he 

 was directed in a dream to bind the treasure on the 

 back of an ass, turn the animal loose at Old Cawdor, 

 and found his castle wheresoever it should lie down. 

 The beast wandered about half a mile, to a knoll 

 beside the Rierach Burn, whereon grew three haw- 

 thorns ; it rubbed its nose against the first, its tail 

 against the second, and finally lay down under the 

 third. Kound this tree was built the castle keep ; 

 and there, to the everlasting confusion of sceptics in 

 oneiromancy, remains the old stem to this day, dry 

 and dead, of course, but still firmly rooted in the 

 floor, and built into the root of the vault. At its 

 foot lies the coffer which contained the treasure, 

 heavily hooped with iron, and not a whit the worse 

 for the four centuries and a half since it was un- 

 bound from the donkey's back. It is said that the 

 other two thorn -trees disappeared only during 

 the present century. The royal licence for build- 

 ing the castle is dated 1454, a date which rather 

 clashes with the legend that makes one of the rooms 

 in the keep the scene of the murder of King 

 Duncan by Macbeth. In the following year, King 

 James II. issued a warrant empowering the Thane 

 to dismantle the Norman fortress of Lochindorb, 



