In a castle in the North of England, long ago, there lived a King and his family.
The King and Queen had two children - a daughter, Elaine, and a son who was called Childe Wynde. They had strange names in those days!
Elaine grew to be the most beautiful Princess in all the North. She was tall and slim, her eyes were blue and her hair golden and wavy. Many Princes thought they would like to marry her, but she did not want to marry them.
Childe Wynde was brave and strong, and he became a famous Knight, even when he was quite young. He wanted to go to the Holy Land and fight enemies, and off he went.
While he was away, the Queen, their mother, died.
Elaine still had not met a Prince she wanted tomarry. She missed her brother, and she missed her mother dreadfully. The King was old now, and he was lonely and sad.
One day, a young lady came to the castle to stay for a while. The King fell in love with her and he married her.
What no-one knew was, this lady was no other than the Wicked Witch of the North. Now she was Queen of the North Country, and could have her wicked way.
It was not long before she started being cruel to Elaine. She hated her, because she was beautiful. She saw Elaine as her rival. Elaine became very sad. When she spoke to her father about how unkind her stepmother was, he wouldn't listen. He was under the Witch's spell.
Then, one summer day, the Witch came to Elaine.
"I think I have been being very unkind to you, my dear," she said.
Elaine was very surprised, but said nothing.
"I'm very sorry," went on the Wicked Queen. "I would like to do something to show how sorry I am. Shall we go for a walk in the country? There are some lovely places round here. We can have a picnic and talk."
It all seemed very odd to Elaine, but she thought maybe everything was going to be all right now, after all. She was a very kind and loving girl, so she answered, "Oh yes please, I'd like that."
So, at that, off they went.
Elaine's stepmother led the way. Out of the castle, on and on, up into the hills.
"Where are we going, Stepmother?"
"Somewhere very special, my dear."
At last they reached the top of a rocky hill. There was a cave in the rocks, but nothing else.
"Here we are at last!" said the Witch-Queen.
"Here?" said Elaine, looking round. "But ... but what is there to see here?"
"THIS!" cried the Witch.
She lifted up her wand, which she had been pretending was a walking stick, and waved it over Elaine, saying some words that sounded awful.
And they were awful, because there was a BANG and a cloud of smoke. When the smoke had cleared, instead of Fair Elaine, there was an ugly dragon - oh yes, a real dragon, breathing fire.
The Witch-Queen laughed and laughed and laughed.
"Now my pretty one, not so lovely now, are we? You will be a dragon, the terror of the North Country, until a Knight comes along and gives you kisses three! Somehow, that doesn't seem very likely, does it?"
The Elaine-dragon tried to cry, but only smoke came out. She backed into the cave, and stayed there. The Queen went home.
No-one could understand where Princess Elaine had gone. Nor could they understand where the ugly dragon came from when it started to burn up their countryside. Elaine had become a real dragon, and had all a dragon's nasty habits, sad to say.
People called her the "Laidley Worm". 'Laidley' meant "ugly" in their language, and 'Worm' meant dragon. How the Witch-Queen enjoyed that!
As those were the days when Knights were bold, many Knights came to fight the Worm. They couldn't defeat her - her scales were too hard and they went away singed, with their swords all bent. The only thing Elaine didn't do, which any other dragon would, was to eat the Knights after they had lost the fight. You would have thought that they would have been puzzled by that, but it seems they weren't.
Time went by. In the Holy Land, Childe Wynde had been busy fighting dragons and having all sorts of adventures. One day, he met a man from the North Country who had come to see Jerusalem.
Childe Wynde asked for news of his home, and the man told him all about the Laidley Worm. He also told him that the Princess Elaine was lost.
Childe Wynde said, "I must go home at once. I'm used to dragons. I'll soon beat this one. I'll find my sister as well!"
He set off for home, riding his white horse. It was a long way to go, and in those days it took a long time. When he got to England at last, he still had to ride to the North Country.
As he was riding along, he got thirsty. Seeing a well beside the road, he got down from his horse and went to get a drink. Suddenly, there was a fair lady dressed in green sitting on the wall behind the well! The fair lady looked straight at him, and Childe Wynde didn't know what to do next.
The Lady spoke to him.
"Son of the King of the North," she said, "I know you are going to fight the Worm. You also want to find your sister."
"Yes, my lady, I am and I do."
"Listen well to me. You will do both at once. Do not kill the Worm, but give it kisses three. You will see what you will see!"
Then the Lady of the Well was gone as suddenly as she came.
Childe Wynde rode on until he reached his father's castle. He met his new stepmother, and didn't like her. However, he had other things to think about - there was a dragon to fight!
The next day he rode out to find the Worm. Up into the hills he went, until he reached the cave where he had been told the dragon lived. He tied his white horse to a tall stone, and went up to the cave.
"Come out and fight me, Worm!" he cried.
Out came the ugly dragon. But it was not breathing fire, only a little puff of smoke, and it crept towards him, with its head bent low. However hard he tried, he could not get it to fight him. He couldn't kill it without a fair fight - he was a Knight after all. What was he to do?
Then he remembered the Lady of the Well. Oh no! He had to kiss the dragon. What a horrible thought. Three times as well!
He put down his sword, and came up close to the smoking dragon. It lay there, looking sad - if dragons can look sad. One kiss on its rough, hard, scaly cheek, then another, and another.
The dragon backed away into its cave.
There was a flash of light and a loud BANG!
Out of the cave stepped Fair Elaine, his lost sister, and fell into his arms. He threw his cloak around her, and set her in front of him on his horse.
At that moment, back at the castle, the King was sitting in his Hall with the Queen beside him when - BANG! FLASH! There on the throne instead of the Queen was an ugly toad! The spell came back on her, which served her right.
All the people in the hall tried to catch the toad, but it hopped away from them. It was too fast for them, and down the castle well it plopped. And that was the last anyone saw of the Witch-Queen of the North.
Childe Wynde brought his sister back to the castle. He didn't go to war again until he made sure she was married to a handsome Prince.
As for the toad-Queen, she is still at the bottom of the castle well. They say she can be changed back if someone is sorry for her and brave enough to kiss her. So far, no-one ever has been.
