The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea
Encyclopedia
"The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea" is Child ballad number 36.
His father sends for the stepmother, who claims his children are at court. He makes her use her silver wand to turn his son back, and then her magic horn to summon the fish, although the daughter holds back rather than let the stepmother transform her again.
The father burns the stepmother at the stake.
", "Kemp Owyne
", and more with "Allison Gross
", but is an independent one, and a traditional one, unretouched by literary forms.
The sister can comb the hair in "Allison Gross" because she still has her human form; Francis James Child
believed that part of the original tale has been lost, in which she could assume her human form again for part of the week.
The horn has a logical plot function in this tale, unlike "Allison Gross". It is psychologically sound that the fish wishes to avoid her stepmother, but that plot twist leaves her still a fish; Child believed that, here, also, part of the tale was lost.
Synopsis
A young man, transformed into a laily (loathly, or loathsome) worm, tells his story: his father married an evil woman as his stepmother, and she transformed him into a worm and his sister into a mackerel. His sister combed his hair every Saturday. He has killed seven knights, and if the man he was speaking to was not his father, he would be the eighth.His father sends for the stepmother, who claims his children are at court. He makes her use her silver wand to turn his son back, and then her magic horn to summon the fish, although the daughter holds back rather than let the stepmother transform her again.
The father burns the stepmother at the stake.
Motifs
This ballad has motifs in common with "The Laidly Worm of Spindleston HeughThe Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh
The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh, also known as The Laidly Worm of Bamborough, is a Northumbrian ballad about a princess who changed into a dragon .-Synopsis:...
", "Kemp Owyne
Kemp Owyne
-Synopsis:The heroine is turned into a worm , usually by her stepmother, who curses her to remain so until the king's son comes to kiss her three times. When he arrives, she offers him a belt, a ring, and a sword to kiss her, promising the things would magically protect him; the third time, she...
", and more with "Allison Gross
Allison Gross
"Allison Gross" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad #35. It tells the story of "the ugliest witch in the north country" who tries to persuade a man to become her lover and then punishes him by a transformation.-Synopsis:Allison Gross, a hideous witch, tries to bribe the narrator to...
", but is an independent one, and a traditional one, unretouched by literary forms.
The sister can comb the hair in "Allison Gross" because she still has her human form; Francis James Child
Francis James Child
Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...
believed that part of the original tale has been lost, in which she could assume her human form again for part of the week.
The horn has a logical plot function in this tale, unlike "Allison Gross". It is psychologically sound that the fish wishes to avoid her stepmother, but that plot twist leaves her still a fish; Child believed that, here, also, part of the tale was lost.