Legends of Scotland

Municipal State-financed Educational Institution «School №41»

Individual Survey

Legends of Scotland

Done by: Ivan Lukovkin

Supervised by: Orekhova Yulia Petrovna

Ryazan

The aim: to explore mysterious facts from the history of Scotland.

Actuality: I learn English language at school. I think, it’s necessary to know some facts about history of English-speaking countries.    

Suppose: There are many magic events in history of Scotland.

Tasks:

1. to collect the information
2. to conduct a poll
3. to analyze my material
4. to present some mysterious facts from the history of Scotland
5. to express the opinion

Introduction:

There are a lot of strange places on the Earth. Because of studying English at school, I want to learn Scotland’s legends.

A poll:

I interviewed my classmates. I asked them the following questions:

1. Do you know any legends of Scotland? (Yes/No)
2. What do you know about Nessie? (a. I don’t know anything. b. I know that it is a monster. c. I know the legend about it. )
3. Have you read any articles about the Stone of Destiny? (Yes/No)

Then I analyzed the answers of my classmates and came to the conclusion. Firstly, my friends don’t know enough information about legends of Scotland. Secondly, I should solve this problem and tell about some mysterious facts from the history of Scotland.

        The theory part:

1. The Stone of Destiny.

The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny, and the Coronation Stone, is a stone used in the coronation ceremonies of England and Scotland. It is an oblong shaped block of red sandstone. It was kept at the now-ruined Scone Abbey in Scone, near Perth, Scotland.

Legends place the origins of the Stone in Biblical times and consider the Stone to be the Stone of Jacob.

In 1296, the stone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair—known as King Edward's Chair.

Do you believe in predictions? In 1383 John of Fordun wrote the prediction about the Stone of Destiny:

That’s why we can suppose that Edward I had contributed prediction fulfillment. James VI of Scotland assumed the English throne as James I of England. For the next century, the Stuart kings and queens of Scotland once again sat on the stone but at their coronation as kings and queens of England.

On Christmas Day 1950, a group of four Scottish students removed the stone from Westminster Abbey for return to Scotland. Once the London police were informed of its whereabouts, the stone was returned to Westminster four months after it was removed. In 1996 the British Government decided that the stone should be kept in Scotland in Edinburgh Castle.

The Stone of Scone was last used in 1953 for the coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

2. The Loch Ness Monster

In Scottish folklore, the Loch Ness Monster or Nessie, is an aquatic being which inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.

It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, and is often described as being large in size, with a long neck and one or more humps protruding from the water.

The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the sixth century AD (565). According to Adomnán, Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he met local residents burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man was swimming in the river when he was attacked by a "water beast" which mauled him and dragged him underwater. The writer Ronald Binns considers that this is the most serious of various alleged early sightings of the monster.

In 1933 Alex Campbell published a report that while he and his wife were driving around the loch, they saw "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life" trundling across the road toward the loch with "an animal" in its mouth.

In 1933 it was suggested that the creature "bears a striking resemblance to the supposedly extinct plesiosaur", a long-necked aquatic reptile which became extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Tim Dinsdale, Peter Scott and Roy Mackal postulate a trapped marine creature which evolved from a plesiosaur directly or by convergent evolution. Robert Rines explained that the "horns" in some sightings as breathing tubes (or nostrils), allowing it to breathe without breaking the surface.

The Surgeon's photograph was the only photographic evidence of a head and neck – all the others are humps or disturbances. Dr. Wilson claimed he was looking at the loch when he saw the monster, so grabbed his camera and snapped five photos. After the film was developed, only two exposures were clear. The most popular shows what was claimed to be a small head and back.

Conclusion:

I’ve made the individual survey and done all my tasks.

I explore mysterious facts from the history of Scotland and tell my classmates about them. I recommended my friends to read more articles and books about legends and historical events.

        Resources:

https://kids.kiddle.co/Stone_of_Scone 

http://lady.webnice.ru/little_alba/?act=article&v=2307 

https://kids.kiddle.co/Loch_Ness_Monster