This is my least favourite statue in Dundee's city centre, I find it ugly but I suppose Dragons are ugly. The dragon is found on the Dundee coat of arms but there is also and old folks tale surrounding the Dundee dragon when a farmer from Pitempton lived with his nine daughters. One day, he asked the eldest to go and get some water from the well. When she didn't return, he sent another and as each daughter left and never returned, he traced their steps and reached the well where he met an enormous dragon sleeping surrounded by remains of his nine daughters.
Devastated, the farmer fled back to the village where he told his youngest daughter's lover, Martin, what had happened. Martin raised a mob of villagers to kill the dragon and when they finally came close the villagers shouted, "Strike, Martin!", which is said to be the root of the name 'Strathmartine'.
Martin's strike severely wounded the dragon and he slew the beast in a field at the foot of what is now Craigowl Hill. A surviving rhyme details the dying words of the dragon:
'Tempted at Pitempton
Draigled at Baldragon
Stricken at Strathmartine
And killed at Martin's Stane' read more