The Well of the Heads: Tales of the Scottish Clans Book

In the Highlands of Scotland till modern times lived a warrior-society that was in many ways like those that flourished in the Iron Age over two thousand years ago. Focused on the central role of the warrior, the Scottish clan system, built round the ties of blood, continued to exist alongside the modern rapidly industrializing society of eighteenth- century Britain. The clans were united by claims of common descent from a distant ancestor and these could be Picts, Scots, or even Norsemen, the peoples who roamed first millennium Scotland. The warriors of the clan, fiercely loyal to each other and to the chief, the center of all clan life, were known for their remarkable courage and endurance, selfless loyalty and highly developed military skills. Not for nothing were they considered the best fighting men in the world. These skills in time formed the backbone of the British Armies that conquered the world, the Highland regiments. The tales collected here illustrate the drama and the dynamism of a society that lived close to nature, had little in the way of material wealth but was possessed of an intellectual treasure house of story and song. That tradition gives us instances of outstanding bravery and cold-hearted deceit, loyalty to the death and the eeriness of the magic and the supernatural.Read More