Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 8, 2025
As the ship came near, the Worm unfolded its coils, and dipping into the sea, caught hold of the ship of Childe Wynd, and banged it off the shore. Three times Childe Wynd urged his men on to row bravely and strong, but each time the Laidly Worm kept it off the shore. Then Childe Wynd ordered the ship to be put about, and the witch-queen thought he had given up the attempt.
Childe Wynd stayed his hand, but he did not know what to think if some witchery were not in it. Then said the Laidly Worm again: "O, quit your sword, unbend your bow, And give me kisses three, If I'm not won ere set of sun, Won never shall I be." Then Childe Wynd went up to the Laidly Worm and kissed it once; but no change came over it.
Then Childe Wynd kissed it once more; but yet no change came over it. For a third time he kissed the loathsome thing, and with a hiss and a roar the Laidly Worm reared back and before Childe Wynd stood his sister Margaret. He wrapped his cloak about her, and then went up to the castle with her.
They launched the ship upon the main, Which bellowed like a wrathful bear, Down to the bottom the vessel sank, A laidly Trold has dragged it there. Down to the bottom sank young Roland, And round about he groped awhile; Until he found the path which led Unto the bower of Ellenlyle.
"Holy man!" quoth King James, and he laughed, "we know That thy tongue never wags in vain, But the Church cist is full, and the king's is low, And the Clyde is a fair domain. "Yet a knight that's bewitched by a laidly fere Needs not much to dissolve the spell; We will summon the bride and the bridegroom here Be at hand with thy book and bell."
But the moment Childe Wynd had landed, the witch-queen's power over the Laidly Worm had gone, and she went back to her bower all alone, not an imp, nor a man-at-arms to help her, for she knew her hour was come.
Presently we revive, we stir, we flutter; and Fate, that foe the old arch-spider, that hath no moderation in her maw now fixeth one of her many eyes upon us, and giveth us a partial glimpse of her laidly and grim aspect. We pause in mute terror; we gaze upon the ugly spectre, so imperfectly beheld; the net ceases to tremble, and the wily enemy draws gently back into her nook.
Then the imps went forth to meet Childe Wynd's ship, but when they got near, they found they had no power over the ship, for its keel was made of the rowan tree. So back they came to the queen witch, who knew not what to do. She ordered her men-at-arms to resist Childe Wynd if he should land near them, and by her spells she caused the Laidly Worm to wait by the entrance of the harbour.
So when Childe Wynd came rushing up to the Laidly Worm it made no attempt to stop him or hurt him, but just as he was going to raise his sword to slay it, the voice of his own sister Margaret came from its jaws saying: "O, quit your sword, unbend your bow, And give me kisses three; For though I am a poisonous worm, No harm I'll do to thee."
And this was her spell: I weird ye to be a Laidly Worm, And borrowed shall ye never be, Until Childe Wynd, the King's own son Come to the Heugh and thrice kiss thee; Until the world comes to an end, Borrowed shall ye never be. So Lady Margaret went to bed a beauteous maiden, and rose up a Laidly Worm.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking