Dr. Wilson on Linton and its Legends. 39 



combatant is an ox, which has been specially nourished on pure 

 sweet milk for a series of years, till it had acquired strength 

 tremendous enough for so fierce a contest. In Eiby church there 

 is preserved a portion of the horn of the ox, in farther sure tes- 

 timony of the authenticity of the story *. All the traditions 

 agree in one essential point : that legends of dragon conflicts 

 have connected themselves with a number of ancient churches, 

 and that representations of these have been preserved, for the 

 most part in stone carvings, within the precincts of the buildings. 

 That the tradition should have varied as it passed from land to 

 land, gathering a trait here and a peculiarity there, as it mingled 

 itself with other popular fancies or recollections, while it still 

 carried with it the expression of a general fact which found a 

 home everywhere, is only a proof that one common and original 

 idea existed as the groundwork of the widely accepted belief; 

 and that idea was manifestly the subjugation of the cruel and 

 terrible system of northern polytheism to the milder religion of 

 the cross. Thus the legend of the Worm of Linton appears as 

 a Christian myth, of which the carving on the stone is simply the 

 artistic embodiment : and the credit of the exploit falls away from 

 the shadowy grasp of its ancient possessors, the monument, as 

 in a thousand other instances, having given rise to the story, 

 and not the story to the monument. 



There is a peculiarity in the church knoll of Linton, which 

 must have attracted observation at an early period, and which 

 has led to a prevalent belief that it is wholly of artificial con- 

 struction. In digging into it for the purposes of interment, the- 

 ' sexton cuts only through a fine, compact sand, which has no- 

 where hardened into stone, but the particles of which cohere so 

 closely, that the sides of the newly opened grave appear smooth 

 and perpendicular as a wall. Excavations to the depth of fifteen 

 feet have been made without any other substance being encoun- 

 tered ; not even a single stone or pebble being imbedded in the 

 mass, or found anywhere, unless such as may chance to have fallen 

 upon the thin layer of mould which clothes the surface. The 

 structure of the adjoining heights is wholly different ; and it is 

 evident that causes have operated at this spot which have shown 

 no agency elsewhere in the vicinity. But the love of the mar- 

 vellous has here again stept in, and Linton has its second legend 

 in the churchyard knoll. 



Long, long ago, says the tradition, a young man killed a priest, 

 and was condemned to die for the crime and sacrilege. Strong 

 intercessions, however, were made in his behalf; and it was at 

 last agreed, that if his two sisters would undertake the penance 



* Thiele, Danmarks Folkesagn, D. ii. p. 286. 



