Next day they all had the news that Patrick Kerr, who hated the kirk and
all ministers, and had done away with the parish of Abbotrule, had died
in the darkening of that Sabbath evening and gone to his last account.
THE LAIDLEY WORM OF SPINDLESTON-HEUGH
In a land where fairy tales die hard, it is sometimes no easy task to
discriminate between what is solid historical fact, what is fact,
moss-grown and flower-covered, like an old, old tomb, and what is mere
fantasy, the innocent fancy of a nation in its childhood, turned at last
into stone--a lasting stalactite--from the countless droppings of belief
bestowed upon it by countless generations.
Scientists nowadays crushingly hold prehistoric beasts, or still
existent marsh gas, accountable for dragons and serpents and other fauna
of legendary history; but in certain country districts there are some
animals that no amount of Board School information, nor countless
Science Siftings from penny papers can ever destroy, and to this
invulnerable class belongs the Laidley Worm of Spindleston-Heugh.
High above the yellow sand that borders the fierce North Sea on the
extreme north of the Northumbrian coast still stands the castle of
Bamborough. Many a fierce invasion has it withstood during the thousand
odd years since first King Ida placed his stronghold there.
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