This legend first appears in a much later account, "Tales of a Grandfather" by Sir Walter Scott (published between 1828 and 1830). This may have originally been told about his companion-in-arms Sir James Douglas (the "Black Douglas"), who had spent time hiding out in caves within his manor of Lintalee, which was then occupied by the English. The entire account may in fact be a version of a literary trope used in royal biographical writing. A similar story is told, for example, in Jewish sources about King David, in Polish accounts about Bruce's contemporary Władysław I the Elbow-high, and in Persian folklore about the Mongolian warlord Tamerlane and an ant.