SOLVED. Classic legend/tale of knight battle with a serpent. Read around early 1980s. [s]

[Andrew]

I think I read it in early eighties. It was one of several stories about knight's battles with various monsters, though I can't remember if it was a book I was given or if it was in a school book.
Anyway, the particular legend I'm looking for had to do with a serpent (perhaps living in an old well?) That had slain many knights. He was advised by (? someone) to have blades attached all over his suit of armor so that the serpent would be cut when it coiled around him. I remember that there was an old woodcut print drawing of the knight in bladed plate mail, shield and weapon, with the serpent al around him being sliced apart by the blades as it tried to constrict him

[SBC]

I found this comment about dragons which points to a few famous figures in story: "A dragon’s instinct is to seize and squeeze its victim. More of More Hall, Lord Lambton, and Sir Peter Loschy all had armour covered in spikes or blades so that the tighter the dragon squeezed, the more harm it did to itself."

More of More Hall slew the Dragon of Wantley.
Lord Lambton fought the Lambton Worm - the Wikipedia entry has a an illustration by John Dickson Batten from More English Fairy Tales which looks like what you describe, and there's another pic from English Fairy and Other Folk Tales.
Sir Peter Loschy fought the Dragon of Loschy Wood

The Lambton Worm story does include a well and seems the most famous one, with quite a few retellings, including these:

The Lambton Curse
The Lambton Worm
The Lambton Worm

The older book with the picture that looks like what you describe (as featured on Wikipedia) is from More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, also available here: https://fairytalez.com/the-lambton-worm/

[Andrew]

Solved -Lambton worm. Though I haven't seen the particular version that I read, there's enough detail to tell it was SOME version of the Lambton worm

[Kris]

Just to confirm, the woodblock image of the "Lambton Worm" isn't the one suggested by SBC - More English Fairy Tales: collected and edited by Joseph Jacobs?

Project Gutenberg has the entire text here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

Link to JPG image only - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

[Andrew]

I'm sorry, I am not sure of your meaning? The image is not the exact same, but is very similar. I reread part of the story, and this is the correct legend.

[Andrew]

I did some more searching, and found a match on someone's Pinterest, but not yet a link to the whole work. I am attempting to insert image here:

[Andrew]

Here it is! Well, the Lambton worm legend contained in this book is the one: All about Monsters