The Bloody Heath

The heath, or heather, that decorates the Scottish hills, commemorates in its name the efforts of the Christians to covert the Picts. When the latter were visited by armed missionaries who ordered them to cease the worship of false gods, the Picts unreasonably gave battle, and the plants that were bedewed with the blood of heathen became the heathen, or heath, for short. When all except two of the tribe had been killed, these survivors–father and son–were taken before Kenneth, the conqueror, who promised them life if they would tell him how to make heath beer. They remained silent. Thinking to force the older man to compliance, the king put the son to death before the father’s eyes. In anger and disgust, the old man refused to grant any favor to so brutal a victor, and the secret of the drink was never known, although, for shame’s sake, Kenneth suffered his prisoner to live.

In Jura the secret still survives, for the peasants of that region continue to make a beer in which two parts of heath tops are combined with one of malt. But the heath of Jura is not stained with a people’s blood.

From: Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants, by Charles M. Skinner, c. 1911 by J.B. Lippincott Company