Postby Andrew MacLean » Fri 24 Mar 2006 10:18 am
Sweet
Here is the story of the Lampton Worme
There once was a nobleman named Lord Lampton who lived in County Durham, in the north-east of England. As a boy, he went fishing in the River Wear, instead of going to church. He caught no fish, and so he started swearing at his bad luck. Suddenly there was a tug on his line. He pulled and he pulled, thinking it must be an enormous fish, but instead it was just six inches long and shaped like a worm, but with four legs, two wings, and nine holes in its head. Lampton threw it into a nearby well and promptly forgot about it.
The years went by and Lampton grew up. He went away to fight in the Crusades and did not return home for many years. Meanwhile, the worm in the well grew and grew. Finally it was big enough to get out of the well and went hunting for food. The farmers tried to kill it because it was eating their cows, but could not, so they began bringing milk to it just to keep it from wandering about. The worm continued to grow and soon needed the milk of ten cows each day. If milk was not given to it, the Worm would eat the cows and any farmers that it could catch. The worm was now enormous and went to live on a large rock in the middle of the River Wear.
After many years away, Lampton returned home and was met by his father, who immediately told his son of the terrible Worm that was causing such destruction,that had four legs, two wings, and nine holes in its head. When Lampton heard this, he felt rersponsible so he grabbed his sword and hurried to do battle with the beast. He found it sitting on its rock, and immediately attacked it. As the Worm tried to curl itself around him, Lampton swung his sword, and struck it again and again, trying to chop it into pieces. Then he realised that each time his blade cut the Worm in two, the two parts would wriggle to meet each otherand the worm would become whole once again. Lampton fought the Worm all day, but nothing he could do hurt the beast, and eventually he gave up and went back home.
The next day, Lampton went to consult a witch, who told him how the Worm might be destroyed. First, Lampton must have his armour covered all over with very sharp blades of steel, then he must wrestle with the Worm with his bare hands on its rock in the middle of the River Wear. As Lampton was about to hurry away, the witch added one more instruction. Once the Worm was dead, however, Lampton must kill the first living creature that he met or the death of the Worm would be avenged. He agreed, and Lampton went away to prepare for the battle.
The blacksmiths worked all night to make him his armour, and the next morning Lampton and his father made their way down to the River Wear. Along with them came the oldest of their hunting dogs. If the worm was defeated, Lampton's father would release the old dog and the son would kill it as instructed by the witch. Lampton waded out to the rock, dressed in his new armour, and went to do battle with the Worm. The sharp blades cut the Worm into pieces, which fell into the fast flowing river and were washed away before they could rejoin. The Worm grew smaller and smaller, until at last it was gone forever.
Andrew
Andrew MacLean