 The number of prospective heroes who come forward as a result of the king 's appeal varies in the telling from 30 to 36 , but they all leave without confronting the monster . The day before the princess is due to be sacrificed , Assipattle , the youngest son of a local farmer and despised by his family , mounts his father 's horse and at dawn arrives on the beach where the creature is just beginning to awaken . After stealing some hot peat and acquiring a small boat , Assipattle is driven by the waves into the stoor worm 's mouth as it starts yawning . The boat is carried down to the depths of the creature 's stomach until it finally comes to rest . Assipattle plunges the still burning peat into the stoor worm 's liver , causing a " fire that blazed like a furnace " . The pain of its burning liver causes the creature to have a fit of retching that carries Assipattle , who has managed to return to his boat , back out of the monster 's mouth . 
