The dancing giants of Brodgar

The Ring of Brodgar, a neolithic stone circle, built between 2500 BC and 2000 BC, is surrounded by folklore. Today i went to run around and take some photos. Each stone is about 7 foot tall, and the circle measures 104 meters across. Here's my favourite story.

One dark, starry night, a very long time ago, a group of fearsome giants crossed the causeway on to the Ness of Brodgar.

Once across, they gathered in a field that had the Stenness Loch to its left and the Harray Loch to the right. There, they decided to dance.

From the folds of his cloak the fiddler took out an ancient fiddle and began a swirling reel. Upon hearing the music, his companions joined hands then, whooping and shouting like fools, formed a circle and danced. The ground beneath their feet fairly trembled as the colossal dancers whirled round and round, faster and faster.

So great was their enjoyment of the dance that they forgot to pay attention to the eastern horizon and lost all thought as to how quickly the night was passing.

Then, before they knew it, the morning sun crept into the sky behind them and with a shriek and a moan, the newborn rays of light touched the dancing giants.

No sooner had the golden light touched their skin than they turned into cold, hard stone...

And there they remained.