After his defeat in 1306 Robert the Bruce is said to have sheltered on Rathlin Island, in a sea cave beneath the East Lighthouse now called Bruce's Cave. In the story, while hiding in a cave he watched a spider spin a web, failing six times and succeeding on the seventh, mirroring Bruce's own six defeats. Inspired, he returned to Scotland and in time won at Bannockburn in 1314.
Folklore Finder says Walter Scott popularised the composite story in 1828 and that earlier versions attributed it to Sir James Douglas. The tale is also told in Scotland and the Isle of Arran, so the Rathlin attachment is one of several. A Rathlin legend also holds that Bruce and his warriors sleep an enchanted sleep beneath Bruce's Castle on the island and will wake to unite it with Scotland, and that fishermen sheltering in the ruins reported a hand reaching from the dark holding a cup.
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