"A gardener discovered the little dog lying by the grave, and shooed him away. Bobby refused to budge. The gardener redoubled his efforts, without success. Storms, wind and hail would not shift the canine horizontale from his faithful watch over his master's remains.
Eventually, the gardener gave up his curses and imprecations, and put some sacking down beneath two tablestones beside Gray's grave. There Bobby would sleep every night, and most of every day - and there he continued to live, beside his first and only master, for 14 years, looked after and fed by kind neighbours and local children, until he died in 1872."
The reason is of course the new movie, backed up by the battalions of the tourist/heritage industry. But is this kitsch how we want Scotland to be seen abroad?
"On Tuesday, the great and good will be at Vue Edinburgh Omni Cinema for the premiere, then mill around Edinburgh Castle. Representatives of charities will press the flesh with city fathers.
And the simple story of a dog who chose to hang around a grave plot for 14 years will be given a spring clean and a new paint job for a new generation.
Why do they keep doing it? Because the story appeals to people who long to believe human beings are essentially loveable creatures deep down and that, for just once in history, there seemed to be proof that an animal shared this optimistic point of view. It's probably sentimental baloney of course. But we'll go on believing it as long as we can."
Don't it make you want to barff?
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