The Wolfe and the Laidley Worm

The ballad Kemp Owyne (The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited by Francis James Child) is a variation of the North English ballad The Laidley Worm. Both stories involve a maiden changed into a loathsome (laidley) half-serpent which terrorizes the area about them. In both cases, a hero comes to destroy the monster, but instead kisses her three times, breaking the spell and changing into a "fayre lady". 

In The Greek Myths, Robert Graves associates the half-woman, half-serpent Hylaea of Heracles' tenth labor with the creature in the ballad The Laidely Worm (The Greek Myths 132.6). But it is from Kemp Owyne that Wolfe has drawn repeated inspiration, first in his Soldier novels and then in The Book of the Long Sun. The following is the ballad Kemp Owyne:

Her mother died when she was young,
Which gave her cause to make great moan;
Her father married the warst woman
That ever lived in Christendom.

She served her with foot and hand,
In every thing that she could dee,
Till once, in an unlucky time,
She threw her in ower Craigy's sea.

Says, "Lie you there, dove Isabel,
And all my sorrows lie with thee;
Till Kemp Owyne come ower the sea,
And borrow you with kisses three,
Let all the warld do what they will,
Oh borrowed shall you never be!

Her breath grew strang, her hair grew lang,
And twisted thrice about the tree,
And all the people, far and near,
Thought that a savage beast was she.

Her breath was strang, her hair was lang,
And twisted was about the tree,
And with a swing she came about:
"Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me.

"Here is a royal belt," she cried,
"That I have found in the green sea;
And while your body it is on,
Drawn shall your blood never be;
But if you touch me, tail or fin,
I vow my belt your death shall be."

He stepped in, gave her a kiss,
The royal belt he brought him wi;
Her breath was strang, her hair was lang,
And twisted twice about the tree,
And with a swing she came about:
"Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me."

He stepped in, gave her a kiss,
The royal ring he brought him wi;
Her breath was strang, her hair was lang,
And twisted ance about the tree,
And with a swing she came about:
"Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me.

"Here is a royal brand¹," she said,
"That I have found in the green sea;
And while your body it is on,
Drawn shall your blood never be;
But if you touch me, tail or fin,
I swear my brand your death shall be."

Just like Kemp Owyne, Latro receives the following gifts from various aspects of the Tri-deistic Moon goddess:

Only Latro can see that Eurycles/Drakaina is a woman until he touches her, which makes the transformation "real" to all others. Just like Kemp Owyne, Latro embraces three aspects of the Moon goddess: a Maenad, a Nymph, and Drakaina (each time after receiving the gift). When he at last kisses Drakaina she becomes "as fair a woman as fair could be".

Why did Wolfe prefer Kemp Owyne to The Laidley Worm? "Owyne" or "Owen" is another form of the name "Eugene," and so perhaps Wolfe ( a veteran of the Korean War) has inserted himself into the role of protagonist as he did in The Fifth Head of Cerberus: 

Kemp Owyne = "the soldier Eugene"

Wolfe draws from this theme again in The Book of the Long Sun. This time Silk receives from Hyacinth:

He is invited by Hyacinth to meet her at a fountain which is presided over by the image of the malformed image Thelxiepea (Craigy's sea). He embraces her three times: at the fountain, in the floater, and on his wedding night. Add to this that Silk himself enigmatically associates his name with that of the chem soldier Sand.

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