Near Dundee is the Nine Maidens’ Well, with places nearby called Pittempton, Baldragon, Strathmartine and Martinstane. The story went that a dragon devoured nine maidens at the well, and Martin, the lover of one of them, struck it with a club at Strathmartine, followed it as it dragged itself through a bog, and killed it at Martinstane. Chambers thought the story had been made up to explain the place names, and gives the dragon’s dying rhyme.
The Nine Maidens’ Well
23 April · Strathmartine, near Dundee, Angus
Lore and belief
I was tempit (tempted) at Pittempton, Draiglit (draggled) at Baldragon, Stricken at Strikemartin, And killed at Martinstane.
From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, pp. 541-542. Read the original
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