Page 195 illustration in English Fairy Tales

''The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh'', also known as ''The Laidly Worm of Bamborough'', is a

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

about a

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...

who is changed into a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

(the "laidly worm" of the title).

Synopsis

In the

Kingdom of Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

, a kind king in

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland. It is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may h ...

takes a beautiful but cruel witch as his queen after his wife's death. The King's son, Childe Wynd, has gone across the sea and the witch, jealous of the beauty of the king’s daughter, Princess Margaret, and quick to take advantage of Wynd’s absence, turns her into a dragon. The enchantment used is usually: ::::''I weird ye to be a Laidly Worm,'' ::::''And borrowed shall ye never be,'' ::::''Until Childe Wynd, the King's own son'' ::::''Come to the Heugh and thrice kiss thee;'' ::::''Until the world comes to an end,'' ::::''Borrowed shall ye never be.'' Later in the story, the prince returns and, instead of fighting the dragon, kisses it, restoring the princess to her natural form. He then turns the witch-queen into a toad and becomes king.

Variants

The ballad was first published in 1778 in a compilation of

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

s. The ballad was said to have been transcribed by the Reverend Robert Lambe, the Vicar of

Norham Norham ( ) is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, It is located south-west of Berwick on the south side of the River Tweed where it is the border with Scotland. History Its ancient name was Ubbanford. Ecgred of Lindisfarne ...

, from a manuscript "made by the old mountain-bard, Duncan Frasier, living on Cheviot, A.D. 1270", although it is probable that Lambe wrote it himself, drawing on local stories. In Joseph Jacob's version, the dragon Princess Margaret is appeased by putting aside seven cows for her per day. The prince, her brother, hears of it and comes for her despite his stepmother's attempt to keep him away. The first studio recording of the ballad was sung by

Owen Brannigan Owen Brannigan OBE (10 March 19089 May 1973) was an English bass, known in opera for buffo roles and in concert for a wide range of solo parts in music ranging from Henry Purcell to Michael Tippett. He is best remembered for his roles in Mo ...

. The version sung was arranged by

Vilém Tauský Vilém Tauský CBE (20 July 1910, Přerov, Moravia – 16 March 2004, London) was a Czech conductor and composer who, from the advent of the Second World War, lived and worked in the UK, one of a significant group of émigré composers and musici ...

as an abridged narrative, having 10 verses as opposed to the original's 38 verses.

Location

Spindlestone Heugh (or Heughs) is a

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...

crag on the

Great Whin Sill The Whin Sill or Great Whin Sill is a tabular layer of the igneous rock dolerite in County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria in the northeast of England. It lies partly in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and partly in N ...

escarpment in the parish of

Easington, Northumberland Easington is a place and former civil parish, now in the parish of Belford about 14 miles from Alnwick, in the county of Northumberland, England. In 2011 the parish had a population of 143. The parish touched Adderstone with Lucker, Bamburgh, Be ...

. The Spindlestone itself is a natural stone column standing out from the crag, which is also known as "Bridle Rock". According to a local legend, Child Wynd threw his horse's

bridle A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the "bridle" includes both the that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit. Headgea ...

over the rock before tackling the worm. The ballad describes a cave and a stone trough used by the worm; a feature below the crag is marked "Laidley Worm's Trough" by the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

, but the nearby "Laidley Worm's Cave" was destroyed by

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

ing in the 19th century.

Origins

The story has a lot in common with the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

ic ''

Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis ''Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis'' is a late legendary saga without an apparent historic basis. It is about two children of a jarl, and one of them is Hjálmþér whose evil stepmother commands him to work as a thrall until he has performed an impossib ...

''.Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis
/ref> The Laidly Worm never made it into the "Reliques" but was reprinted in various other books after its discovery. Lambe sent the fragments to his friend Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, another antiquarian. Percy had embarked on a

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

-spanning project to collect all the oral and written lore and ballads, which he assembled into a volume called ''

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry The ''Reliques of Ancient English Poetry'' (sometimes known as ''Reliques of Ancient Poetry'' or simply Percy's ''Reliques'') is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765. Sources The basis ...

''.

References

Sources