Drumelzier
 King Arthur |
According to Scottish legend Merlin lies buried at the root of a thorn tree in a field beside the village of Drumelzier near the River Tweed in the south of Scotland. The story has it that Merlin, driven mad by terrible sights of bloody slaughter in the Battle of Arderyth, modern Peebles on the Tweed, fled to the depths of the Caledonian Forest where he encountered St Kentigern. This meeting of minds resulted in Merlin prophesising his own 'triple death'; later that day he was seized by his enemies, beaten with clubs and stones, thrown into a river and stabbed with a wooden stake. Hence the magician's triple death by beating, drowning and stabbing, a reflection of the ritualised form of sacrifice practised by ancient peoples of north-western Europe.