The old ballad tells us
that:
"For seven miles east and seven miles west,
And seven miles north and south,
No blade of grass or corn could grow,
So venomous was her mouth."
Like an embodied plague, the bewitched Princess preyed on the people of
her father's kingdom, who daily brought to the cave, where she coiled
herself up at night to sleep, a terrified tribute of the milk of seven
cows. All over the North Country spread the dread of her name, but now
she was no longer the lovely Princess Margaret, but the Laidley Worm of
Spindleston-Heugh.
"Word went east, and word went west,
And word is gone over the sea,
That a Laidley Worm in Spindleston-Heughs
Would ruin the North Countrie."
Far over the sea, with his thirty-three bold men-at-arms, the Princess's
brother, "Childe Wynd," was carving a career for himself with his sword.
Nothing on earth did Childe Wynd fear, yet ever and again, when success
in battle had been his, he would have a heavy heart, dreading he knew
not what, and often he longed to see again the castle on the high rock
by the sea, and the fair little sister with whom so many happy days had
been spent amongst the blue grass and on the yellow sand of the dunes at
Bamborough.
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