"Why, truly," he said, "I think I have caught the devil himself. Look
you and see if you know him."
But the stranger shook his head, and said, "It bodes no good to thee or
thine to bring such a monster to shore. Yet cast him not back into the
Wear; thou has caught him, and thou must keep him," and with that away
he turned, and was seen no more.
The young heir of Lambton took up the gruesome thing, and, taking it off
his hook, cast it into a well close by, and ever since that day that
well has gone by the name of the Worm Well.
For some time nothing more was seen or heard of the Worm, till one day
it had outgrown the size of the well, and came forth full-grown. So it
came forth from the well and betook itself to the Wear. And all day long
it would lie coiled round a rock in the middle of the stream, while at
night it came forth from the river and harried the country side. It
sucked the cows' milk, devoured the lambs, worried the cattle, and
frightened all the women and girls of the district, and then it would
retire for the rest of the night to the hill, still called the Worm
Hill, on the north side of the Wear, about a mile and a half from
Lambton Hall.
Pages:
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238