Show LEGENDS OF MONSTERS A baue of the that sax alve in eneith polk lora i every reader of north country lore and legend says an english paper is familiar with the stories of monstrous worms dragons fiery flying serpents and the like which are said to have located themselves in various district sexhow under the shadow of the cleveland hills Tees girt stock bum and lambton upon the wear are instances men have laughed at the stories calling them old wives tales but forgetting that even these may nay must have had somewhere and sometime some foundation in fact the old stories of elves and fairies which amused and frightened children in bygone days may well as kingsley points out have had their origin in memories of the feeble folk of the stone age who chipped flints into rude knaves and arrowheads and who lingered in out of the way caves it may be long after the bulk of them had been slain or driven away into the far north by stronger and better armed tribes so the stories of these terrible monsters may not be so foolish as they appear take for instance the legend of the Stock burn worm the name of theman the man who slew it is preserved and is that of a well known north country family his tomb is pointed out in the ruined church of Stock burn where also he lay in effigy with the worm at his feet until the sacred edifice falling into decay the monument was removed to Stock burn hall adjacent there too is preserved the falchion or sword with which the monster was slain and which was shown to every fresh bishop of durham as he entered his diocese a custom which only ceased in the days of van mildret the last of the prince bishops in a field close by the stone round which the worm coiled itself is still to be seen this story so circumstantial in its details can hardly be entirely fabulous how then did it rise the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus says S lang gave tennyson the dragons of the prime slay not some descendant of theas creatures have lingered in remote places one here and another there even in historic times |