 Frightened, she threw both it and the gold into the lake, where the heath-worm continued to grow and terrorized the countryside, spitting poison and killing people and animals.Two Finns called in to destroy it and retrieve the gold said that they had managed to tie its head and tail to the bottom of the lake, but it was impossible to kill it because there was a still larger dragon underneath.Appearance of the creature was considered to portend a harsh season or a failure of grass to grow.