The Worm Ouroboros: The Prelude to Zimiamvia. James Francis Stephens
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A high epic of royal revenge and romance, wizardry and warfare … and a quest that has no end.
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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Copyright © E. R. Eddison 1922
Jacket illustration by John Howe © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2014
E.R. Eddison asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007578115
Ebook Edition © October 2014 ISBN: 9780007578122
Version: 2014-09-09
To W. G. E.
and to my friends K. H. and G. C. L. M.
I dedicate this book
It is neither allegory nor fable but a Story to be read for its own sake.
The proper names I have tried to spell simply. The e in Carcë is long, like that in ‘Phryne’, the o in Krothering short and the accent on that syllable: Corund is accented on the first syllable, Prezmyra on the second, Brandoch Daha on the first and fourth, Gorice on the last syllable, rhyming with ‘thrice’: Corinius rhymes with ‘Flaminius’, Galing with ‘sailing’, La Fireez with ‘desire ease’: ch is always guttural, as in ‘loch’.
E. R. E.
9th January 1922
True Thomas lay on Huntlie bank
A ferlie he spied wi his ee;
And there he saw a Lady bright
Come riding down by the Eildon Tree.
Her skirt was o the grass-green silk,
Her mantle o the velvet fyne,
At ilka tett of her horse’s mane
Hung fifty siller bells and nine.
True Thomas he pulld aff his cap,
And louted low down on his knee:
‘Hail to thee, Mary, Queen of Heaven!
For thy peer on earth could never be.’
‘O no, O no, Thomas,’ she says,
‘That name does not belong to me;
I’m but the Queen of fair Elfland,
That am hither come to visit thee.
‘Harp and carp, Thomas,’ she says,
‘Harp and carp alang wi me.
And if ye dare to kiss my lips,
Sure of your bodie I will be.’
‘Betide me weal, betide me woe,
That weird shall never daunton me.’
Syne he has kissed her rosy lips,
All underneath the Eildon Tree.
THOMAS THE RHYMER
CONTENTS
Introduction by Orville Prescott
Introduction by James Stephens
II. The Wrastling for Demonland
IV. Conjuring in the Iron Tower
VII. Guests of the King in Carcë
VIII. The First Expedition to Impland
X. The Marchlands of the Moruna