This terrible visitation brought young Lambton, of Lambton Hall, to his
senses. He took upon himself the vows of the Cross, and departed for the
Holy Land, in the hope that the scourge he had brought upon his district
would disappear. But the grisly Worm took no heed, except that it
crossed the river and came right up to Lambton Hall itself where the old
lord lived on all alone, his only son having gone to the Holy Land. What
to do? The Worm was coming closer and closer to the Hall; women were
shrieking, men were gathering weapons, dogs were barking and horses
neighing with terror. At last the steward called out to the dairy maids,
"Bring all your milk hither," and when they did so, and had brought all
the milk that the nine kye of the byre had yielded, he poured it all
into the long stone trough in front of the Hall.
The Worm drew nearer and nearer, till at last it came up to the trough.
But when it sniffed the milk, it turned aside to the trough and
swallowed all the milk up, and then slowly turned round and crossed the
river Wear, and coiled its bulk three times round the Worm Hill for the
night.
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