The Monster of Windelstone Gorge

Once upon a time, in Bamburgh Castle, there lived a mighty king and a beautiful queen, and they had two children—a son named Child-Wind and a daughter named Margrit.

Child-Wind grew up and sailed across the sea to see the world and make a name for himself. Soon after his departure, the queen fell ill and passed away. The king mourned for a long time, but one day, while hunting, he met a beautiful foreign woman, fell in love, and decided to marry her. A messenger was sent with orders to prepare the castle for the arrival of the new queen, the mistress of Bamburgh.

Princess Margrit was not overjoyed by this news, but neither was she too upset. She obeyed her father's command and, on the appointed day, descended to the gates to welcome the new queen and hand over the keys to the castle.

However, as Margrit greeted her father and stepmother, one of the new knights in the entourage exclaimed:

"I swear, there is no one in the world more beautiful than this northern princess!"

The stepmother queen was deeply wounded but did not show it, only muttering under her breath:

"Just you wait! I'll take care of this beauty!"

That very night, the queen (who was, in fact, a witch!) climbed to the very top of the oldest, tallest tower of the castle and began performing magical rituals. Using amulets—a dragon's tooth, owl claws, and snake skin—she cast an evil spell on her stepdaughter, cursing her with a terrible and unheard-of enchantment.

The next morning, the servants and ladies-in-waiting could not find the princess in her bed, and no one in the castle could say where she had disappeared.

On the same day, in Windlestone Gorge, not far from Bamburgh, a terrifying and repulsive monster appeared—a huge, ringed serpent with iron scales and a fire-breathing mouth. The creature devoured sheep and cows that wandered into the gorge, and at night, it terrified the entire region with its long, eerie roar.

The king was deeply distressed by these two misfortunes—the disappearance of his daughter and the appearance of the dreadful serpent. He sent a messenger with a letter across the sea to his son, Child-Wind, begging him to return home. "For I am too old, my son, and the burden of these calamities is too great for me to bear," he wrote to the prince.

Upon receiving the news, Child-Wind began preparing for the journey—he ordered his ship to be equipped and selected thirty of his best, bravest, and most reliable warriors. He also did not forget to consult a sorcerer, an expert in white magic. The wise old man told him:

"For your journey to succeed, carve the bowsprit of your ship from a single rowan tree, for rowan wards off evil spells. And take this rowan twig with you. Touch your stepmother queen with it. It will do no harm, but the truth will be revealed."

Child-Wind thanked the sorcerer, took the twig, fastened the rowan bowsprit to the ship's prow, and set sail westward at dawn.

But the queen (who, as you know, was a witch!) laid out her amulets in a secluded tower, sifted moonlight through a sieve, and learned that Child-Wind was returning to Bamburgh Castle with thirty chosen warriors.

She then summoned her subservient spirits and commanded:

"Black servants of mine,
Obedient to me alone! Fly like whirlwinds,
Stir the sea,
Sink the ship,
Destroy the prince!"

The black spirits flew, blowing against the ship and raising enormous waves around it. But the rowan bowsprit scattered and reflected all the evil spells, and Child-Wind's ship continued to approach the shore as if nothing had happened.

The spirits returned to the queen and confessed their inability to harm the prince. The queen gnashed her teeth in anger but did not give up. She ordered her army to march to the harbor, meet the ship, attack it, and kill everyone on board.

As Child-Wind approached the shore, he suddenly saw a huge, terrifying serpent with a fire-breathing mouth swimming toward him. The serpent pushed the ship back, preventing it from entering the harbor. Again and again, the prince's ship turned, trying to reach the dock, but each time the dreadful serpent blocked its path. Oars and spears were powerless against its iron scales.

The experienced helmsman said to Child-Wind:

"Let us sail back to sea and then turn around to land unnoticed—over there, beyond the cape."

They did so. But as soon as Child-Wind stepped ashore and took a few steps, the very same serpent—a repulsive monster with a ringed body and a dragon's head—emerged from the forest.

Child-Wind drew his sword and prepared to strike... when suddenly, instead of a terrifying roar, a gentle maiden's voice came from the monster's mouth:

"Oh, sheath your sword and cast aside your shield,
Fear nothing, no!
Kiss me three times—
And the spell will go."

Child-Wind thought he recognized the voice... What sorcery was this? Or was some evil spirit truly deceiving him? The prince shuddered in horror, but the monster said:

"Do not think that before you
A vile serpent lies,
Kiss me three times—
And break the spell's ties!"

It was the voice of his sister, Margrit! The prince hesitated, stepped forward, but then remembered how cunning evil spirits could be. He raised his sword again, but the monster shook its head and said:

"Approach me without fear,
And kiss me thrice;
Only thus can I be saved.
I beg you, brother, heed my plea!"

Then the prince cast aside his sword and shield, stepped toward the monster, and kissed its terrible, fire-breathing mouth three times.

At that very moment, with a hiss and a whistle, the monster recoiled, and—lo and behold!—before Child-Wind stood his sister Margrit.

"Thank you, dear brother!" said the princess. "Know that our stepmother, the witch, turned me into this monster and cast a spell so that I could not be freed until my brother kissed me three times in this dreadful form. But now the spell is broken, and she who cast it has lost all her magical power."

When Child-Wind, arm in arm with his sister and accompanied by his warriors, entered his father's castle, the evil queen sat in her tower, endlessly chanting incantations, dreaming of casting some misfortune upon the prince and princess.

Hearing Child-Wind's footsteps, she tried to flee, but the prince touched her with the rowan twig, and the witch began to shrink and shrivel before their eyes, shrinking and shriveling until she turned into a repulsive toad, which—plop-plop! plop-plop!—hopped out of the castle and into the forest.

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The Monster of Windelstone Gorge

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