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Now Princess May Margret was not over-pleased to think that her mother's

place should be taken by a strange woman, nor was she pleased to think

that she would have to give up keeping house for her father the King.

For she had always taken a pride in her work. But she said nothing,

though she stood long on the castle walls looking out across the sea

wishing for her dear brother's return; for, see you, they had mothered

each other.



Still no news came of Childe Wynde; so on the day when the old King was

to bring the new Queen home, May Margret counted over the keys of the

castle chambers, knotted them on a string, and after casting them over

her left shoulder for luck--more for her father's sake than for the new

Queen's regard--she stood at the castle gate ready to hand over the keys

to her stepmother.



Now as the bridal procession approached with all the lords of the north

countrie, and some of the Scots lords in attendance, she looked so fair

and so sweet, that the lords whispered to one another of her beauty. And

when, after saying in a voice like a mavis--



"Oh welcome, welcome, father,

Unto your halls and towers!

And welcome too, my stepmother,

For all that's here is yours!"



she turned upon the step and tripped into the yard, the Scots lords said

aloud:



"Forsooth! May Margret's grace

Surpasses all that we have met, she has so fair a face!"



Now the new Queen overheard this, and she stamped her foot and her face

flushed with anger as she turned her about and called:



"You might have excepted me,

But I will bring May Margret to a Laidly Worm's degree;

I'll bring her low as a Laidly Worm

That warps about a stone,

And not till the Childe of Wynde come back

Will the witching be undone."



Well! hearing this May Margret laughed, not knowing that her new

stepmother, for all her beauty, was a witch; and the laugh made the

wicked woman still more angry. So that same night she left her royal

bed, and, returning to the lonely cave where she had ever done her

magic, she cast Princess May Margret under a spell with charms three

times three, and passes nine times nine. And this was her spell:



"I weird ye to a Laidly Worm,

And such sail ye ever be

Until Childe Wynde the King's dear son

Comes home across the sea.

Until the world comes to an end

Unspelled ye'll never be,

Unless Childe Wynde of his own free will

Sail give you kisses three!"



So it came to pass that Princess May Margret went to her bed a beauteous

maiden, full of grace, and rose next morning a Laidly Worm; for when her

tire-women came to dress her they found coiled up in her bed an awesome

dragon, which uncoiled itself and came towards them. And when they ran

away terrified, the Laidly Worm crawled and crept, and crept and crawled

down to the sea till it reached the rock of the Spindlestone which is

called the Heugh. And there it curled itself round the stone, and lay

basking in the sun.



Then for seven miles east and seven miles west and seven miles north and

south the whole country-side knew the hunger of the Laidly Worm of

Spindlestone Heugh, for it drove the awesome beast to leave its

resting-place at night and devour everything it came across.



At last a wise warlock told the people that if they wished to be quit of

these horrors, they must take every drop of the milk of seven white

milch kine every morn and every eve to the trough of stone at the foot

of the Heugh, for the Laidly Worm to drink. And this they did, and after

that the Laidly Worm troubled the country-side no longer; but lay warped

about the Heugh, looking out to sea with its terrible snout in the air.



But the word of its doings had gone east and had gone west; it had even

gone over the sea and had come to Childe Wynde's ears; and the news of

it angered him; for he thought perchance it had something to do with his

beloved sister May Margret's disappearance. So he called his men-at-arms

together and said:



"We must sail to Bamborough and land by Spindlestone, so as to quell and

kill this Laidly Worm."



Then they built a ship without delay, laying the keel with wood from the

rowan tree. And they made masts of rowan wood also, and oars likewise;

and, so furnished, set forth.



Now the wicked Queen knew by her arts they were coming, so she sent out

her imps to still the winds so that the fluttering sails of silk hung

idle on the masts. But Childe Wynde was not to be bested; so he called

out the oarsmen. Thus it came to pass that one morn the wicked Queen,

looking from the Keep, saw the gallant ship in Bamborough Bay, and she

sent out all her witch-wives and her impets to raise a storm and sink

the ship; but they came back unable to hurt it, for, see you, it was

built of rowan wood, over which witches have no power.



Then, as a last device, the Witch Queen laid spells upon the Laidly Worm

saying:



"Oh! Laidly Worm! Go make their topmast heel,

Go! Worm the sand, and creep beneath the keel."



Now the Laidly Worm had no choice but to obey. So:



"The Worm leapt up, the Worm leapt down

And plaited round each plank,

And aye as the ship came close to shore

She heeled as if she sank."



Three times three did Childe Wynde attempt to land, and three times

three the Laidly Worm kept the good ship from the shore. At last Childe

Wynde gave the word to put the ship about, and the Witch Queen, who was

watching from the Keep, thought he had given up: but he was not to be

bested: for he only rounded the next point to Budley sands. And there,

jumping into the shoal water, he got safely to land, and drawing his

sword of proof, rushed up to fight the awesome Worm. But as he raised

his sword to strike he heard a voice, soft as the western wind:



"Oh quit thy sword, unbend thy bow,

And give me kisses three,

For though I seem a Laidly Worm

No harm I'll do to thee!"



And the voice seemed to him like the voice of his dear sister May

Margret. So he stayed his hand. Then once again the Laidly Worm said:



"Oh quit thy sword, unbend thy bow,

My laidly form forget.

Forgive the wrong and kiss me thrice

For love of May Margret."



Then Childe Wynde, remembering how he had loved his sister, put his arms

round the Laidly Worm and kissed it once. And he kissed the loathly

thing twice. And he kissed it yet a third time as he stood with the wet

sand at his feet.



Then with a hiss and a roar the Laidly Worm sank to the sand, and in his

arms was May Margret!



He wrapped her in his mantle, for she trembled in the cold sea air, and

carried her to Bamborough Castle, where the wicked Queen, knowing her

hour was come, stood, all deserted by her imps and witch-wives, on the

stairs, twisting her hands.



Then Childe Wynde looking at her cried:



"Woe! Woe to thee, thou wicked Witch!

An ill fate shalt thine be!

The doom thou dreed on May Margret

The same doom shalt thou dree.



Henceforth thou'lt be a Laidly Toad

That in the clay doth wend,

And unspelled thou wilt never be

Till this world hath an end."



And as he spoke the wicked Queen began to shrivel, and she shrivelled

and shrivelled to a horrid wrinkled toad that hopped down the castle

steps and disappeared in a crevice.



But to this day a loathsome toad is sometimes seen haunting Bamborough

Keep; and that Laidly Toad is the wicked Witch Queen!



But Childe Wynde and Princess May Margret loved each other as much as

ever, and lived happily ever after.









[Illustration: Tatty sat down and wept]