By Phil Young Copyright 2008 Sovereign Books Limited

Scotland - a land of mists

Where the heather flowers in fullness

And the sheep and cattle feed

Amidst the thistle - purple and green



The legacy of Scottish history was freedom

For not even the Romans or Danes

Or the Scandanavians

Had ever conquered Scotland

And Caesar Hadrian even

Built a wall to stop them



And in 1320 AD

The Scottish declared independence

From the Pope in Rome

And the English king Longshanks



And the leaders of the clans

With the abbot at Arbroath Monastery

Composed a document of great significance

the Scottish Declaration of Independence

Which Scotsmen have known ever since

And we know the Scottish people

Were called Scythians

Before the Romans

And the Scythish became the Scottish



But the abbot at Arbroath

Related the Scottish back to Joshua

From the Old Testament age

And the Judean Maccabbeans

From the Apocrypha stage



And the abbot and the clan elders

All believed they were Judeans

With a long line of kings and chieftains

Going back to King David and King Solomon



According to their royal and ancient traditions

And said they first came to Scotland

About 250 BC

Which is very early indeed



And the English monk

The Venerable Bede

Who wrote his history

In the seventh century AD

Said the Scots came from Ireland

But he did not mention a time when



But what Bede did say

Was that the Scottish men

Didn’t have any women with them

So they were given Irish daughters for wives

To begin their new lives

Across the Sea between the Emerald Isles



Some say this is why

The Scottish and Irish did not fight

Like the two ancient tribes

The Judeans and Benjamites



For centuries Scotsmen

Had lived as farmers on the land

Caring for their calves and lambs

Ready to fight for their clan

With a sword and dagger at hand



When the Greek historian Herodotus

Wrote his book of Histories

Back in 440 BC

He mentioned

The Royal Scythians explicitly

As Greece’s barbaric enemy



They were the Scythians or Spartons

Who dressed up in tartans

And who allegedly by 250 BC

Had crossed the Aegean Sea

Then after being driven out of Iberia in Spain

They caught the southern breeze

All the way up to the land of the Iberes



And John’s prophecy

Given at Patmos Island in 96 AD

Said there would be 1260 years of peace

For the tribe of Mary



Then 1260 years passed between the year 33

Since the Judean Jesus Christ was crucified

Until the English king Longshanks

Ended the Scottish peace in 1296 AD

By taking away the sacred Stone of Scone

From Berwick Castle - the Royal Scythian throne

All the way back to the City of London

For future English coronations

And for future English kings and queens

And soon feuding began in the highlands

And the clans began fighting and shouting

And were always growling about overcrowding



And some highlanders became despised

For wearing their tartans

And for playing their bagpipes

Before plundering and pillaging

The lowland villages

And for refusing

To become modernised



The English Revolution

And the formation of the Bank of England

Lead to the dispersions of the Celts

From both the Scottish and Irish nations



And on that fateful day in April 1746

Upon the moors of Culloden

There was betrayal within Scotland

When the Catholic MacDonald clans

Sided with the English institutions



And so the king of England

Won at Culloden and ruled Scotland

And the highlanders became hunted

Or shot down or hung

For having a kilt

A bagpipe or gun



And so the freedom that Scottish people

Which for centuries they had stood and died for

And the freedom braveheart had cried for

Back in 1305 when he died

Was lost and destroyed



So drifting like seawood upon the seashore

Highlanders now lived in their damp cribs

Staying warm by their peat fires

Just to stay alive - just to survive



Otherwise they became mercenaries

With the East India Company

And the Hudson and other companies

All owned by the City of London



And as the Scots

Began to lead new lives

They took with them their tartans

And bagpipes

To try and identify

With Scottish history

From years gone by

Paintings