A lion of the north?

Scientists have searched in vain to find Nessie, Scotland's greatest myth and one of the most famous monsters in the world, and the absence of evidence of her existence has failed to dispel the belief among some that she might survive in the loch's murky depths. And the story of King Arthur is increasingly being seen as one set in what is now Scotland - amid research on the history of the Welsh-speaking tribes who once lived here.

The Scottish origin myth tells how descendants of Scota, an Egyptian princess, travelled through Spain and Ireland before arriving at their present home. Such stories were once dismissed, but recent genetic studies have shown the Scots did actually migrate from Spain.

Myths and legends represent surviving fragments of an ancient oral storytelling tradition. The tales were largely unconstrained by politics but they were also filtered through the minds of many tellers including those interested in a good tale rather than the truth.

This week, The Scotsman looks at some of our most celebrated myths and legends - and asks if they should be debunked once and for all. Each story has a 'Truth or Myth' rating - from zero (unbelievable, no basis in fact) to five (strong historical evidence).

• For more myths and legends online, go to www.heritage.scotsman.com/myths

King Arthur

Truth factor: 3/5

There probably was a historical figure called Arthur who gave birth to the stories, but Arthur may have been both name and title, so here were many Arthurs and many stories, later amalgamated into one epic.IT IS ONE of the world's greatest myths, a story that has captivated people across Europe for centuries. The legend of King Arthur tells of great deeds in battle, chivalry, magic, romance and betrayal, a tale so enthralling he has remained a household name to this day - along with such other central characters as Guinevere, Merlin and Sir Lancelot.

Traditionally, he has been associated with Wales, Cornwall and south-western England, but southern Scotland is increasingly being seen as a rival setting for the real Arthur story.

The first mention of Arthur comes in the sixth-century Welsh poem Y Gododdin where a great warrior is described as being "no Arthur" - a good fighter, but not as good as the great man. However, this poem is not actually set in Wales, instead telling of a tribe setting out from what is now Edinburgh and fighting in a glorious defeat at the hands of the Anglo-Saxon Northumbrians.

Britonic tribes living in Scotland at the time spoke a Welsh-style language and the theory is that the story of Arthur became part of the shared cultural traditions of other such people living in Britain. As Welsh died out in Scotland, the setting for the stories moved south to the language's last remaining strongholds - in Wales, Cornwall and even Brittany.

Scotland is littered with Arthurian place-names, from Edinburgh's famous Arthur's Seat to Ben Arthur and Camelon at Falkirk, which is similar to the famous castle of Camelot and also Camlann, where, according to some accounts, Arthur was killed in battle in 537 AD. It also has the only historical candidate: Artur mac Aiden, the son of a Scottish king and a Welsh-speaking Briton from the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. However, he did live during the latter half of the sixth century, which is seen as too late by some experts on the legend.

Guinevere is said to have been buried at Meigle and a Pictish standing stone showing a figure surrounded by four animals has been interpreted as depicting her gruesome execution - by being thrown into a pit of hunting dogs - in punishment for betraying Arthur.

Stuart McHardy, the author of The Quest for Arthur, says: "If there was a real figure - and that's not 100 per cent - he was here [in Scotland]. I've no doubt about that.

"What people have been looking at for many years is trying to locate the battles. If you can get a good fit for the battles, that kind of proves it.

"If the stories are right - and the point of a story is not to be historically accurate - then after the final battle at Camelon, he was taken to Avalon. There's a good fit for Avalon in the Forth - the Isle of May."

The Isle of May was historically associated with stories of "nine maidens", and Arthur is said to have been borne away by Morgan le Fay and her eight sisters.

Arthur, if he was real, is not thought to have actually been a king, but an early Christian who, as the leader of a war-band, fought many battles against pagan tribes. Much of the modern-day story about a chivalric court of knights seated at a round table stems from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, a mix of fact and fiction which starts with Britain being settled by Brutus, a descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas.

Geoffrey is thought to have been of Celtic Breton descent and, in Norman times, celebrating and perhaps embellishing the stories of a hero who fought the recently-conquered Saxons would have been politically astute.

The first historic record of Arthur is merely a passing mention. The poet Aneirin, who lived from about 535 to 600, wrote in Y Gododdin that one warrior "fed black ravens [killed people] on the ramparts, although he was no Arthur".

McHardy says: "Probably the most telling point [that Arthur lived in Scotland] is the earliest reference to him being from Edinburgh in Y Gododdin. The people up here spoke the same kind of language as people in Wales and Cornwall and people who share a language generally tend to share other cultural things, like mythology."

Guinevere's supposed grave at Meigle is actually known as Vanora's Mound, but the story goes that she changed her name before being executed for betraying Arthur with Mordred. Her death may even have been recorded on the carved Pictish stone found at Meigle. "It shows a gowned figure surrounded by four animals. They have been interpreted as lions because they have powerful shoulders and some people say it is Daniel in the lion's den," McHardy says. "Other people say it is Vanora. She was torn to pieces by a pack of wild dogs and they [the animals] could just as well be hunting dogs."

The name Merlin first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's book as Merlinus, a character thought to have been based partly on a wild-man called Myrddin. Geoffrey apparently changed the name because it was too similar to the vulgar French word merde.

Myrddin, who is not specifically linked with Arthur in the earliest stories, is portrayed in medieval Welsh-language poems as a prophet who lived in the Caledonian forest in the sixth century. While not much hard evidence of Arthur is to be found anywhere - France and Italy both claim him, in addition to Scotland, England and Wales - the clan McArthur claims to be descended from him.

Clan historian Hugh McArthur believes Artur mac Aiden is the source of the stories, but that his role in forcing people to convert to Christianity was left out of written church records and only survived in the oral storytelling tradition. "The information we have about Arthur is pretty vague. It's almost as if he's been written out of history and you find the same about the historical Artur mac Aiden," he says.

"Christianity was delivered at the point of a sword in Scotland, but it was written down as being handed over a lot more peacefully. There is an old proverb in Argyll that there's none older than the hills, the devil and McArthur. That dates it. The devil arrived with Christianity and so McArthur is as old as Christianity in Scotland. It all kind of fits together."

Ossian

Truth factor: 1/5

The idea of Macpherson dressing up fragments of Gaelic poetry as a lost epic was born in Edinburgh drawingrooms to restore Scots pride. Ironically, his ambition may have meant genuine remnants were seen as a forgery.IN 1762, the Highland poet James Macpherson published an epic poem which he claimed to have translated from Gaelic - and which he said had been composed by Ossian, the blind son of the warrior-king Fingal.

The work of "Scotland's Homer" was a sensation, popular among both commoners and nobility. Napoleon was said to have carried a copy into battle and the US president Thomas Jefferson said the works were "the source of daily and exalted pleasure".

Macpherson's version has Ossian, old and blind after some unspecified disaster, recalling the heroic events of his father's time and the battles fought and won by his warriors.

It shares many characteristics with traditional Irish stories of Oisin, son of Finn Mac Cumhaill, who travels to the land of Tir Na Nog for 300 years and returns to find St Patrick converting Ireland to Christianity and all his people dead. However, the tone of Macpherson's work, which he claimed dated from the third century, was in keeping with contemporary Scotland's mood - exhausted after the Jacobite defeats, and searching for its identity.

After its publication, Macpherson spent time in London literary circles and was fted as the saviour of a great romantic masterpiece. His followers claimed he had uncovered an authentic ancient epic which surpassed any English work of the period and which rivalled the Greek and Latin classics.

However, the great lexicographer Samuel Johnson took issue with the work, saying it was "as gross an imposition as the world was ever troubled with". Indeed, it emerged that Macpherson had fabricated great chunks of the so-called translation and the work came to be seen as nothing more than a clever forgery.

Nevertheless, in recent years, champions as exalted as Alexander McCall Smith have emerged to argue Macpherson's works were based on fragments of traditional Gaelic song passed down the generations. Scotland's great epic may not have been the work of a single author, but Ossian may have been a real figure from Scotland's Celtic past.

St Mungo

Truth factor: 3/5Mungo was a real historical figure,

but because many facts of his life stem from Jocelyn’s hagiography,

scholars suggest the cult of the saint was encouraged for political reasons, to strengthen the Celtic church.THE MAN who was to become the patron saint of Glasgow, and whose miracles inspired the city's coat of arms, had an extraordinary beginning. His mother was Tannock, daughter of Lot, the sixth-century king who gave his name to the Lothians.

She was a pious girl who studied Latin, languages and the lore of herbs and flowers with the Irish nun Honenna. In adolescence she dreamed of being like the Virgin Mary, and prayed to give birth to a child who would become "the saviour of the northern people". However, King Lot wanted Tannock to marry Owen, son of the Prince of Northumbria. When she refused, he sent her to work among the swine. Meanwhile, Owen had become transfixed by Tannock and, disguised as a woman, overcame her as she worked in the fields. She became pregnant and her father ordered her to be thrown from the top of Traprain Law, in East Lothian, where he had his fortress.

Tannock survived and, fearing witchcraft, Lot's counsellors ordered her to be cast adrift in a small boat on the Forth. The princess prayed all night and, in the morning, was washed on to the shore at Culross, where she gave birth to a baby boy. Shepherds took the child to the wise abbot Servanus, who looked into the child's eyes and was met with a miraculous smile. Servanus immediately named the boy Mungo, "beloved one".

Tutored by his mother and by Servanus, also known as St Serf, Mungo [also known as Kentigern] grew to be strong and wise and, at the age of 25, travelled west to preach to the people there. A Christian community grew up around him, which was named "Clasgu", meaning "the dear family".

The burial place of St Mungo became the site of the cathedral which stands in the centre of modern Glasgow.

St Mungo was undoubtedly a genuine historical figure, mentioned in Arthurian legend and Welsh folklore. But many of the facts of his life stem from a 12th-century hagiography by a monk called Jocelyn. Scholars suggest the cult of the saint was encouraged for political reasons, to strengthen the Celtic church in Scotland and to help give it a distinct identity.