DiscoverKelpies > The Ghostly Piper of Edinburgh Castle

The Ghostly Piper of Edinburgh Castle

There have always been rumours of an ancient underground tunnel leading from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace. In olden days, when Scotland was at war, this would have been a useful escape for the Queen or King when Edinburgh was attacked. But there are many passages under Edinburgh, and the route of this special secret one was lost. Legend tells us that a piper was sent down to find the way through…

Robbie was a piper.

He could play the pipes before he could climb out of his cradle. He could play the pipes before he could say a sentence. He could play the pipes before he could walk a single step. And so Robbie grew up to be the best piper in the whole of Edinburgh.

When Robbie played tunes on his bagpipes, everyone stopped to listen. His music made them want to sing and dance and laugh with joy.

The King of Scotland asked him to be Edinburgh’s official piper and stand on the highest point of the Castle Rock to play. Every day Robbie blew his pipes so strongly that the soldiers guarding the castle, the people strolling on the Royal Mile and the monarch in Holyrood Palace heard him.

And, in the Other World across on Calton Hill, the Folk of Faeryland heard him too.

“The Summer Solstice is approaching,” said the Queen of Faeryland. “Let us ask this piper to come and play for us then.”
And she sent a messenger to Robbie with an invitation for him to join in their Midsummer merry-making.
But Robbie was a man of honour and unwilling to abandon the post he’d been given by the King. Politely and graciously, Robbie declined the invitation of the Faery Queen.

The years rolled on and Robbie got older. More and more he struggled to blow enough air into the bag to make his music. An afternoon came when, short of breath on his walk home, he thought sadly to himself that soon he’d have to hang up his pipes forever.

By strange chance it happened to be the day before Midsummer’s Eve, and that very night the Queen of Faeryland herself visited Robbie to invite him to celebrate the Summer Solstice and stay awhile with the Faery Folk.

“I know why you refused my first invitation,” she told him. “But if you ask him, your King might give you leave to go, for he holds you in high regard. He will know that the fresh clear air of Faeryland will help you breathe as once you did when you were young.”

“How should I find the way to Faeryland?” Robbie asked her.

The Queen of Faeryland smiled. “The King of Scotland will show you the way.”