=21. Results of the Victory=.--By this battle, won against tremendous odds, the _Saxons_ of the _Lowlands_ decided their own fate and that of the _Celtic_ people by whose name they were called, and to whose kingdom they chose to belong. On the field of Bannockburn they gave the English a convincing proof that they preferred sharing the poverty and turbulent independence of that half-civilized Celtic kingdom to rejoining the more wealthy, prosperous, and settled country from which three centuries before they had been severed. Three more centuries were still to pass before Edward the First's great idea of a Union could be carried out. _Bannockburn_ is noteworthy among battles as being one of the first to prove the value of Wallace's great discovery that footmen, when rightly understood and skilfully handled, were, after all, better than the mounted men-at-arms hitherto deemed invincible. Like _Morgarten_ and _Courtray_, the fields on which the _Flemings_ and the _Swiss_ about the same time overthrew their oppressors, this victory of the Scots stands forth as a bright example, showing how, even in that age of feudal tyranny, a few men of set purpose, fighting for their common liberty, could withstand a great mass of feudal retainers fighting simply at the bidding of their lords. =22. Bruce's Comrades.=--The faithful friends of Bruce, those who had shared his dangers and helped him to win his crown, were no way behind their leader in courage and heroism. The most famous of them all was _James of Douglas_, son of that _Douglas_ who had been the friend and supporter of _Wallace_. His own _Castle of Douglas_ was the scene of one of his most daring deeds, hence called the _Douglas Larder_. The English held his castle, but on Palm Sunday, when the garrison were gone to church, Douglas attacked them suddenly, killed some, and took the rest prisoners. He and his men then went up to the castle, where they feasted merrily on the fare that was being made ready for the English. When they had dined, Douglas bade them bring forth all the provision of food and fuel and pile it up in the castle hall. He then killed the English prisoners and flung their bodies on the heap. Over them he poured their store of wine, which mingled with the blood that still streamed from their gaping wounds. The Scots then set fire to the whole and went off to the woods again, for the free vault of heaven was more to their minds than the constraint of castle walls. All these stories are only tales; but, whether true or not, they show the spirit of the time.