Chapter XXXIII: The Laidly Worm

_Source_.--From an eighteenth-century ballad of the Rev. Mr. Lamb of Norham, as given in Prof. Child's _Ballads_; with a few touches and verses from the more ancient version “Kempion.” A florid prose version appeared in _Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore_ for May 1890. I have made the obvious emendation of

O quit your sword, unbend your bow

for

O quit your sword, and bend your bow.

_Parallels_.--The ballad of “Kempe Owein” is a more general version which “The Laidly Worm” has localised near Bamborough. We learn from this that the original hero was Kempe or Champion Owain, the Welsh hero who flourished in the ninth century. Childe Wynd therefore = Childe Owein. The “Deliverance Kiss” has been studied by Prof. Child, _l.c._, i. 207. A noteworthy example occurs in Boiardo's _Orlando Inamorato_, cc. xxv., xxvi.

_Remarks_.--It is perhaps unnecessary to give the equations “Laidly Worm = Loathly Worm = Loathsome Dragon,” and “borrowed = changed.”