The Dragon Stone

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Location:
Lambton, England, Europe

Description:
The Lambton Worm is a popular folktale. It was partly made popular by a pantomine which retold the legend in a song. The story began with young John Lambton, son of the local Lord, fishing on a sunday. Instead of a fish, he caught a small worm. It was a strange looking creature, with nine holes on each side of its head. Not wanting to keep the creature, he threw it into the well.

Many years past. John grew up and left to fight in the Crusades. The worm had also grown. Escaping the well, it started to terrorise the area. At first, the locals kept it subdued by offering it milk. The milk from twelve cows was placed in a stone trough for the worm. If they did not provide that amount of milk, it would tear up trees in rage. The worm would also eat animals that it came across. After it had eaten enough, it wrapped itself around Pensher hill (now called Worm Hill).

When John returned from fighting, he discovered the damage caused by the worm. Many people had tried to fight it and failed. The worm was able to heal itself and even rejoin cut off parts. It also killed them by trying to crush them to death. John consulted with a local wise woman, Elspat of the Glen, who gave him a way to defeat the dragon. He covered his armour with spikes.

John went to a rock in the middle of the river, and waited for the worm. It came and tried to wrap itself around him, hoping to crush him to death. As it did so, it was impaled on the spikes, stopping it from succeeding. John cut off bits of the worm, which then fell in the river and were carried away. This stopped it rejoining and the worm died.

Elspat has also told John that he must kill the first creature that came to meet him after killing the dragon. He has arranged for a dog to be released, but his father forgot and rushed out to meet him. In some versions of the tale, he kills his father. In others, he does not. In both cases the same curse is placed upon the house of Lambton: for nine generations, no Lord of Lambton would die in their bed.

The numbers tend to change in different versions of the tale. Sometimes it is the milk of nine cows and not twelve. In the folksong, the worm wraps itself around the hill seven times in some versions and ten times in others.

Other Dragon Stone Pages:

• The Lambton Worm (Folksong) - The song lyrics.
• More English Fairytales - Retelling and picture.

Selected References: Simpson, Jacqueline (1980); Whitlock, Ralph (1983)

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