Honest Scottish Piper
Of the simplicity and superstition of his
honest piper, John Bruce, Sir Walter Scott relates the following
instance in a letter to a friend:
“The most extraordinary recipe (for
his severe illness in 1810) was that of my Highland piper,
who spent a whole
Sunday in selecting twelve stones from twelve south running
streams, with the purpose that I should sleep upon them, and
be made whole. I caused him to be told that the recipe was
infallible, but that it was absolutely necessary for the cure
to be successful that the stones
should be wrapped up in the petticoat of a widow who had never
wished to marry again; upon which the disap-
pointed piper renounced all hope of being able to complete
the charm.”
