Legend of the Nine Maidens

The Tale o’ Nine Maidens Young Martin frae ahint the Sidlie hills aboon the river Tay wi a rusted sword to mak him bold cam smiling a the way a bonnie lad wha could pipe a tune he dressed up in a plaid a lusty lad he had longing eyes for a the local ferm toon maids doon the braes by the auld pict stone “there be dragons” so folk say wi nae dread o wyrms in his smithy there he wisnae feared to stay The sisters at Pitempton Toon were tae be seen aye workin in the fields wi half an eye they were weel aware o’the blacksmith piping chiel on the ither hand their fermin father Donal wis guy wary o the loon nae wantin him tae come aroon a courtin the maids o’his farm toon but despite his reservations about the worth o this smithing fluter Donals eldest daughter decided she would like Martin as a suitor Now one day in the ferm toon fields at the height o the summer sun Auld Donal got an awful drouth before their work wis nearly done So he sent his eldest dochter tae fetch them all water from the well When she didna come straight back he thocht she’s under Martins spell So he then sent his second dochter for tae find oot what's tae dee But like the first she’d disappeared so he sent oot dochter number three Three more dochters followed them and at last the final three Never to be seen alive again as they’d been dispatched by the Sidhe Taken to the otherworld through the faerie portal at the well as were so many folk before them or so all the legends tell That is why there were stories about dragons oot by Martin’s stone for they are the fearsome guardians of the sidhe’s otherworldly home Donal stopped work and started searching Oot by Baldragon’s well What he found brought great distress caused him to rant and wail The sleeping dragon lay there and when disturbed took to the sky so Donal roused the village wi his loud desperate hue and cry Martin fought the dragon on the braes by that auld pict stone The crowd yelled oot "Strike Martin, make that fell beast atone" So here my auld tale is finished and I reach the end at last To this day the local names remind us o’what happened in the past The braes became Strathmarine but Baldragon remains the same The Side hills now known as Sidlaws but the stone bears Martin’s name The story is mostly forgotten but the symbolic Pict Stones point the way To a time when all the worlds were different and magic was in play​ Tags: A version of a local legend