305. =Thy father's battle-brand.= Some swords, especially those which
had been magically forged, were held to possess the property of drawing
themselves from their scabbard at the approach of their owner's deadly
enemy. This is the first vague hint which Scott gives us as to the real
identity of the "Knight of Snowdoun." To throw a further glamor of
romance about the prophetical weapon, he tells us that it was given by
fairies to an ancestor of its present owner, namely, to Archibald, third
Duke of Angus, called Tine-man (Loseman) because he always lost his men
in battle, and that this gift was made while Archibald was in league
with Harry Hotspur.