Stirling, Scotland 9th century

“Here in auld days, The wolf roam’d, In a hole of the rock, In ambush lay” - John Allan

Huge wolf? You’d think this would instil fear into the locals of Stirling, who during this time was only a town and sat in the Kingdom of Northumbria under the rule of the princes Osbrecht and Ella. But nay! This wolf tale is one of adoration for the beast.

The story goes that vikings had set their sights on the tiny community of Cumbrian Celts occupying Stirling way back when, and once they have their sights set on something you just try and stop a viking! It was in the dead of night that these soldiers crept up on the town, hoping to take the locals by surprise.

One silly viking, probably notorious for his clumsy demeanour, was not as quiet and sneaky as his comrades, and stepped on the paw of a snoozing wolf-pup. This lead to a domino effect of local-wakening noise from the wolves, the pup yelped for its mother, the mother barked for the pack, the pack of wolves woke and created a symphony of noise that… of course… woke the sleeping town.

Osbrecht and Ella, the Cumbrian Princes who ruled the town, sprung to action. They grabbed their swords and set off to ‘sort out’ the howling wolves. To their surprise, they were not met by angry wolves ready to eat the entire town, but instead found a swarm of vikings probably with their heads in their hands at the ineptitude of that one soldier.

The vikings were already grabbing their coats and leaving, thanks to the wolves, and the Princes saw to it that they continued leaving the town. To thank the wolves for single-handedly saving the small town of Stirling, and guaranteeing its continued existence, the Princes decorated their banners with images of wolves. Stirling have continued this gratitude towards wolves by placing them on a shield atop the 16th-century Mercat Cross in Broad Street, the Merchant’s Guild, and the Royal Arms of Scotland… to name a few!