----- Original Message -----
From: JOHN H REIS
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 5:39 PM
Subject: The Laidley Worm
I was wondering if anyone has any insights into this ballad.
jh
<P>THE LEGEND OF THE LAIDLEY WORM</P>
<P><A href="http://www.escape.ca/~jps/Farnesan.htm">Back to top of
page.</A></P>
<P>Bamburgh is the setting for one of the curious `worm' legends, which seem
to
be a regular feature of North Eastern folklore. The story is that in ancient
times the jealous step mother of a Bamburgh princess turned the young maiden
into a laidley (or loathsome) `worm', who began to terrorise the
neighbourhood
of Bamburgh and Budle Bay.</P>
<P align=center>" For seven miles east and seven miles west,</P>
<P align=center>And seven miles north and south,</P>
<P align=center>No blade of grass or corn would grow,</P>
<P align=center>So deadly was her mouth.</P>
<P align=center>The milk of seven streakit cows,</P>
<P align=center>It was their cost to keep;</P>
<P align=center>They brought her daily which she drank</P>
<P align=center>Before she went to sleep.</P>
<P align=center>At this day might be seen the cave</P>
<P align=center>Where she lay faulded up,</P>
<P align=center>And the trough o' stone the very same</P>
<P align=center>Out of which she supped. "</P>
<P>The princess's brother hearing of the activities of this terrible beast,
returned to England from business abroad (in the expected tradition) to deal
with the serpent. The creature greeted the prince's ship at Budle Bay near
Bamburgh with the following well chosen verses.</P>
<P align=center>"O' quit thy sword, unbend thy brow,</P>
<P align=center>And give me kisses three;</P>
<P align=center>For though I am a poisonous worm,</P>
<P align=center>No hurt I'll do to thee.</P>
<P align=center>O' quit thy sword, unbend thy brow,</P>
<P align=center>And give me kisses three;</P>
<P align=center>If I'm not won here the sun goes down,</P>
<P align=center>Won shall I never be.</P>
<P align=center>So,</P>
<P align=center>He quitted his sword and smoothed his brow,</P>
<P align=center>And gave her kisses three;</P>
<P align=center>She crept into the hole a worm,</P>
<P align=center>And came out a fayre lady."</P>
<P>When the prince confronted the stepmother, to whose magic powers he was
immune, she desperately pleaded for his forgiveness. Showing no mercy the
prince
responded with revengeful anger and turned his stepmother into a loathsome
toad.
The ballad concludes;</P>
<P align=center>" And on the land's near Ida's towers,</P>
<P align=center>A loathsome toad she crawls;</P>
<P align=center>And venom spits on everything</P>
<P align=center>which cometh to the walls.</P>
<P>The Ballad of the `Laidley Worm' has similarities with the <A
href="http://www.escape.ca/~jps/LEGENDS__SONGS_AND_POEMS.htm">Lambton and
Sockburn Worm legends</A> of County Durham, but is probably not of their
antiquity. It is said to have been written by a Cheviot mountain bard in the
thirteenth century, but evidence suggests that the true author was a vicar
of
Norham on Tweed, many centuries later.</P>
<P> </P>
John,
First a plea: could you use plain text for your messages, rather than HTML?
As you can see from the above, your message is difficult to read. If you are
using Outlook Express then select Format from the menu bar and then select
plain text.
Now to business. There is some information on the Laidley Worm o'
Spindleston Heugh on pp. 56-60 of Bruce & Stokoe's "Northumbrian
Minstrelsy", of 1882, recently republished (hurray!) by Llanerch.
I quote the notes:
This ballad is founded upon a well-known tradition current in Bamborough and
its neighbourhood. It was first printed for Hutchinson's "Views of
Northumberland," from a communication by the Reverend Robert Lambe, Vicar of
Norham (editor of the old poem entitled "Flodden Field") who professed to
have obtained it from "an ancient manuscript." The incidents are similar to
those in the ballad "Kempion," published in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border," and which seemed in the opinion of Sir Walter Scott "to have been
an old metrical romance degraded by the lapse of time and the corruption of
reciters." The tune is here given as it was sung on North Tyne many years
ago, and, like most of our ballad airs, is only in one part. Laidley is a
northern corruption for loathly, that is, loathsome.
(end of quote)
Complementary information is found accompanying Child 34. The theme of a
worm or dragon (the words seem to be fairly synonymous) terrorising the
neighbourhood is found elsewhere in Europe. In Catalonia, for example it is
the basis of a ballad about St George and the dragon. St George is the
patron saint of Catalonia as well as of England. In fact, I am a bit
surprised that there isn't an English traditional ballad on the subject of
St George and the Dragon. Or is there? After all, St George is a frequent
character in English mumming plays.
You might want to look up another "laily worm" (sic) that turns up as Child
36: "The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea." Child 35 also refers to a
worm.
Cheers
Simon
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