Did you know that the thistle is the national flower of Scotland? The thistle legend goes all the way back to 1263 when King Haakon IV of Norway decided to invade Scotland and acquire the many lands and riches there. The legend is that the invading Norsemen took off their shoes so they could sneak up on the local Clansmen in the middle of the night.
Unfortunately, for the invaders, one of them stepped on a thistle and the resulting hub-bub waked the Scotsmen who immediately who dispatched the Norse army.
