Folklore

Beattie’s Cairn
Cairn(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Oct 28, 2007
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..a barrow and patch of ground still [exist], known by the names of Beattie's Cairn, and the Mis-sworn Rig. It is said that the circumstance arose from two lairds quarreling about the marches of their lands in this quarter, and witnesses being brought to identify the boundary, the evidence of one of them went to prove that the laird of Balhall had no right to the portion to which he laid claim.

Infuriated at this, and convinced in his own mind that the witness had perjured himself, the laird of Balhall drew a dagger from his belt, and despatched the man on the spot. On examining the body, the fact of the perjury was discovered, it being found that, to save his conscience, the cunning [man] had his shoes filled with earth brought from the laird's land, in whose favour he was enlisted, and on whose property he swore he stood at the time he gave his oath!

p260 in 'The history and traditions of the land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns' by Andrew Jervise (1853) – digitised on Google Books.

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