Confused, Phelim wanders into a forest, where he meets a tree-dwelling tramp named Mad Sweeney, and later sees a washerwoman cleaning a bloody shirt. He flees in terror, encountering Alexia, a strange girl with no shadow, on a bridge. They are attacked by a hatchling that uses treasure to lure Phelim into the river. The pair are saved by Sweeney, who explains that the hatchlings come from ‘stones’ hatched by a gigantic Stoor Worm buried under Europe, which has been awoken by the sound of artillery from the First World War. Alexia tells Phelim that he is 'Jack O'Green', the hero fated to stop the worm from destroying Europe, helped by the Maiden, the Fool, and the Horse.