[PW] Carter's wormkiller, 1902

[Sylvia Milne]

My last word on worms.
We were in a restaurant once just before crossing into Scotland  and a 
little girl of about 7 started to sing this song. Her mother shushed her, 
but other customers asked her to carry on, which she did to great applause

The Lambton Worm

One Sunday morn young Lambton went
A-fishing' in the Wear;
An' catched a fish upon he's heuk,
He thowt leuk't varry queer.
But whatt'n a kind of fish it was
Young Lambton cuddent tell.
He waddn't fash te carry'd hyem,
So he hoyed it doon a well.

cho: Whisht! Lads, haad yor gobs,
     An Aa'll tell ye's aall an aaful story
     Whisht! Lads, haad yor gobs,
     An' Aa'll tell ye  'boot the worm.

Noo Lambton felt inclined te gan
An' fight i' foreign wars.
he joined a troop o' Knights that cared
For nowther woonds nor scars,
An' off he went te Palestine
Where queer things him befel,
An' varry seun forgat aboot
The queer worm i' the well.

But the worm got fat an' growed and' growed
An' growed an aaful size;
He'd greet big teeth, a greet big gob,
An' greet big goggle eyes.
An' when at neets he craaled aboot
Te pick up bits o' news,
If he felt dry upon the road,
He milked a dozen coos.

This feorful worm wad often feed
On caalves an' lambs an' sheep,
An' swally little barins alive
When they laid doon te sleep.
An' when he'd eaten aall he cud
An' he had had he's fill,
He craaled away an' lapped he's tail
Seven times roond Pensher Hill.

The news of this myest aaful worm
An' his queer gannins on
Seun crossed the seas, gat te the ears
Ov brave and' bowld Sor John.
So hyem he cam an' catched the beast
An' cut 'im in twe haalves,
An' that seun stopped he's eatin' bairns,
An' sheep an' lambs and caalves.

So noo ye knaa hoo aall the foaks
On byeth sides ov the Wear
Lost lots o' sheep an' lots o' sleep
An' leeved i' mortal feor.
So let's hev one te brave Sor John
That kept the bairns frae harm,
Saved coos an' caalves by myekin' haalves
O' the famis Lambton Worm.

             Final Chorus

Noo lads, Aa'll haad me gob,
That's aall Aa knaa aboot the story
Ov Sor John's clivvor job
Wi' the aaful Lambton Worm.
Sylvia Milne

Please visit me at
http://www.sylviamilne.co.uk
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Macinnis" <petermacinnis at ozemail.com.au>
To: <list at project-wombat.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 5:47 AM
Subject: Re: [PW] Carter's wormkiller, 1902


Did I say I was offended?  Relax -- only furriners offend, the rest is
rich ocker badinage.

Somewhere in the basement-level store-room, where all the old books go
to recuperate, there is probably a children's book on Dragons, most
probably published by Rigby-Usborne, and it had more on the worm/dragon
thing.  It appears to be hiding.

It further appears that in other respects, I was speaking through my
hat.  Grendel is indeed not a dragon -- Beowulf killed both Grendel and
Grendel's Mum AND a dragon.  I was busy with a deadline, and did not
double-check my facts.

Mea culpa, may I be plagued by Giant Gippsland Earthworms, rattling cans
of spray-on homicide.

(My mystery vermicide, by the way, *may* have been pyrethrin-based, I
now suspect.  That, at least, is the angle currently being pursued,
given that it was toxic to fish.)  I doubt if I will ever find out.

peter


FERGUSON Timothy wrote:
> Sorry Peter, I was unclear.  I did not mean to offend.
>
> I write role-playing game books, and at the moment one of the ones I'm 
> working on contains descriptions of the lindwurm / orm.  I was interested 
> in your source because it would be really useful for the book I'm working 
> on, since I'm using Grendel already, too.  I wasn't having a go at you: 
> it's just every version of Grendel I've seen has him as a sort of troll. 
> If he was a dragon, or called a dragon, then that would link him in a 
> useful way, for me, to Fafnir, who is the dragon mentioned in the link you 
> have quoted below.
>
> So, I wasn't having a go: I apologise for my abruptness.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org]On Behalf Of
> Peter Macinnis
> Sent: Tuesday, 6 March 2007 9:30
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Carter's wormkiller, 1902
>
>
> I was being subtle -- I am well aware of the vermin/worm link -- but in
> the past, 'worm' had other meanings.  All vermin were "worms", just as
> spiders were insects, once upon a time.  Carl von Linné spoiled a lot of 
> things, and that was one of them.
>
> Many dragons were referred to as worms in the past.  See
> http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs991a/prelude.html
>
> There was a degree of humour in my comments.  This is unlike me, and I
> apologise.
>
> peter
>
>
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-- 
  _--|\   Peter Macinnis, feral wordsmith, & science gossip,
/     \  friend of flatworms, pseudoscorpions and onychophorans;
\.--._*  confidence advisor, Australian skydiving trampoline relay team
      v   http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/index.htm
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