MDDM Lambton Worm

[jbor]

on 30/8/02 12:31 AM, Terrance Flaherty at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

> 
> Who tells the tale of the Worm?
> Did the hero sin or make some mistake when he swore his oaths?
> Could he have defeated the worm without the oaths?
> Should he have kept his oath and killed his father?
> What is the moral of this hero  story?

Dixon tells the story to Zhang and Capt. Shelby, I think, Mason having gone
to sleep. (587)

I think "the heedless John Lambton" made the mistake of fishing on a Sunday
and, compounding that particular misdemeanour, he chucks the ugly tiddler
into a well rather than into the river.

I think one point is that no mortal could have defeated the worm-dragon
without taking the oath, and another is that Lambton eventually wakes up to
himself and accepts his responsibility for being the cause of the Worm's
reign of terror in his home county. It's a no-win situation for John
Lanbton. If Lambton hadn't made his pact then the Worm would have been
unstoppable, and would have devoured the whole world.

I think some of the morals of this story are that young, rich men are often
foolish and irresponsible, that the Crusades were a bad thing, and that
sometimes desperate and violent acts and great personal sacrifices are
needed to prevent greater catastrophes. Not sure on the question of whether
he should have killed his father (or his dog, for that matter), but had he
not killed the worm the consequences would have been much much worse than
just accidental death for nine generations of Lambton men.

best