Word went east, and word went west,
50 And word is gone over the sea,
That a laidley worm in Spindleston-Heughs
Would ruin the North Country.
Word went east, and word went west,
And over the sea did go;
55 The Child of Wynd got wit of it,
Which filled his heart with woe.
He called straight his merry men all,
They thirty were and three:
"I wish I were at Spindleston,
60 This desperate worm to see.
"We have no time now here to waste,
Hence quickly let us sail:
My only sister Margaret,
Something, I fear, doth ail."
65 They built a ship without delay,
With masts of the rown tree,
With flutring sails of silk so fine,
And set her on the sea.
They went on board; the wind with speed,
70 Blew them along the deep;
At length they spied an huge square tower
On a rock high and steep.
The sea was smooth, the weather clear;
When they approached nigher,
75 King Ida's castle they well knew,
And the banks of Bambroughshire.
The queen look'd out at her bower window,
To see what she could see;
There she espied a gallant ship
80 Sailing upon the sea.
When she beheld the silken sails,
Full glancing in the sun,
To sink the ship she [sent] away
Her witch wives every one.