I cannot write down for you all the prophecies which Thomas uttered, and which most surely came to pass, but I will tell you one or two.
He foretold the Battle of Bannockburn in these words:
"The Burn of Breid
Shall rin fou reid,"
which came to pass on that terrible day when the waters of the little Bannockburn were reddened by the blood of the defeated English.
He also foretold the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland, under a Prince who was the son of a French Queen, and who yet bore the blood of Bruce in his veins.
"A French Quen shall bearre the Sonne;
Shall rule all Britainne to the sea,
As neere as is the ninth degree,"
which thing came true in 1603, when King James, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, became Monarch of both countries.
Fourteen long years went by, and people were beginning to forget that Thomas the Rhymer had ever been in Fairy-land; but at last a day came when Scotland was at war with England, and the Scottish army was resting by the banks of the Tweed, not far from the Tower of Ercildoune.
