O wad some power the giftie gie us to see oursel’s as ithers see us
Slightly late with a Rabbie Burns commemorative post – yesterday was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's national bard.
Rabbie himself would have been chuffed to see the above piece of promotional material, currently on display in a London pub. What an interesting glimpse it affords of how Scotland is currently viewed. It would appear that this pub took the novel approach of employing a small child to develop advertising materials for scotch, in the medium of chalk. (In recessionary times this may seem to be a more cost effective option than employing a poncey advertising agency.) The young artist, apparently not selected for this task by virtue of any precocious artistic skill, has chosen to depict what may be a scene from the grounds of Balmoral. Prince Charles, clad in highland dress, is on his knees praying to a slavering devil-dog/wolf-type beast (possibly a were-ghillie of some sort), which has its paw on top of a bottle.
The text reads, "Since 1836. Glenfarclas. SINGLE HIGHLAND MALT."
What does this all mean? Has the werebeast stolen the Prince's whisky and is he begging it to return the bottle? Is the Prince performing some sort of exorcism intended to drive the evil spirit from his faithful hound?
As Burns himself might have observed, "Wi' usquebae, we'll face the devil!"