_Source._--Henderson's _Folk-Lore of Northern Counties_, pp. 287-9, I
have rewritten, as the original was rather high falutin'.
_Parallels._--Worms or dragons form the subject of the whole of the
eighth chapter of Henderson. "The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh" (No.
xxxiii.) also requires the milk of nine kye for its daily rations, and
cow's milk is the ordinary provender of such kittle cattle (Grimms'
_Teut. Myth._ 687), the mythological explanation being that cows = the
clouds and the dragon = the storm. Jephtha vows are also frequent in
folk-tales: Miss Cox gives many examples in her _Cinderella_, p. 511.
_Remarks._--Nine generations back from the last of the Lambtons, Henry
Lambton, M.P., ob. 1761, reaches Sir John Lambton, Knight of Rhodes, and
several instances of violent death occur in the interim. Dragons are
possibly survivals into historic times of antedeluvian monsters, or
reminiscences of classical legend (Perseus, etc.). Who shall say which
is which, as Mr. Lang would observe.