A person Having Their Leg Pulled is on the receiving end of a deception, or a joke. A Scottish rhyme dating from 1867 might reveal the phrase's origin: "He preached and at last pulled the auld bodys leg, sae the Kirk got the gatherins o' our Aunty Meg." It's suggested that old Aunt Meg had been hanged for a crime and the preacher pulled on her legs to make sure she died quickly, without too much pain. However, Aunt Meg was known to have been the victim of deception and so was at the gallows for a crime she didn't commit - therefore she'd had he leg pulled as the result of deception and trickery.