The Red Etin

Once upon a time, there were two widows who lived on a small piece of land they rented from a farmer. One widow had two sons, and the other had one. When the time came for the widow with two sons to send them out to seek their fortune, she told her eldest son to take a can and bring her water from the well, so she could bake him a cake. The cake would be big or small according to how much water he brought, and that cake was all she could give him for his journey.

The lad went to the well, filled the can with water, and started home. But the can was broken, so most of the water ran out before he got back. His cake was very small.

Yet small as it was, his mother asked if he would take half the cake with her blessing, telling him that if he chose the whole cake, he would only get it with her curse.

The young man, thinking he might have to travel far and not knowing when he would get more food, said he would rather have the whole cake, come what may. So she gave him the whole cake and her curse along with it.

Then he took his brother aside and gave him a knife to keep until he returned. He asked his brother to look at the knife every morning. As long as it stayed clear and bright, he would know the owner was well.

But if it grew dim and rusty, some harm had surely come to him.

So the young man set out to seek his fortune. He walked all day and all the next day. On the third day in the afternoon, he came upon a shepherd sitting with a flock of sheep. He went up to the shepherd and asked who owned the sheep. The man answered:

"The Red Etin of Ireland Once lived in Bellygan, And stole King Malcolm's daughter, The King of fair Scotland. He beats her, he binds her, He lays her on a band; And every day he dings her With a bright silver wand. Like Julian the Roman, He's one that fears no man. It's said there's one predestined To be his mortal foe; But that man is yet unborn, And long may it be so."

The young man went on. He had not gone far when he saw an old man with white hair herding a flock of swine. He asked whose swine they were, and the man answered with the same song. Then he went a bit farther and came to another very old man herding goats. When he asked whose goats they were, the answer was the same song again. This old man also told him to beware of the next beasts he would meet, for they were quite different from any he had seen.

So the young man continued, and by and by he saw a multitude of dreadful beasts. Each beast had two heads, and on every head four horns. He was terribly frightened and ran away as fast as he could.

He was glad when he came to a castle that stood on a hill, with the door wide open. He went into the castle for shelter and saw an old woman sitting by the kitchen fire. He asked if he could stay the night, as he was tired from a long journey.

The old woman said he could, but warned him that the castle belonged to the Red Etin, a terrible beast with three heads who spared no living man he could catch. The young man wanted to leave but was afraid of the beasts outside.

So he begged the old woman to hide him and not tell the Etin he was there. He thought that if he could get through the night, he might escape in the morning without meeting the beasts.

But he had not been long in his hiding place when the awful Etin came in. No sooner was he inside than he cried out:

"Snouk but and snouk ben, I find the smell of an earthly man; Be he living, or be he dead, His heart this night shall kitchen my bread."

The monster soon found the poor young man and pulled him out. He told him that if he could answer three questions, his life would be spared. The first was: Which was first inhabited, Ireland or Scotland? The second: Was man made for woman, or woman for man? The third: Were men or beasts made first? The lad could not answer any of these questions. So the Red Etin took a mace, knocked him on the head, and turned him into a pillar of stone.

The next morning, the younger brother took out the knife and was sad to find it all brown with rust. He told his mother that it was time for him to go on his travels too.

She asked him to take the can to the well for water, so she could bake a cake. The can was still broken, so he brought home as little water as his brother had, and the cake was just as small.

She asked whether he would have the whole cake with her curse or half with her blessing. Like his brother, he chose the whole cake, come what may. So he left, and everything that had happened to his brother happened to him.

The other widow and her son heard of all this from a fairy, and the young man decided to go on his travels as well, to see if he could help his two friends. So his mother gave him a can to go to the well and bring home water for a cake.

He went, and as he was bringing the water home, a raven above his head cried out to him to look, and he saw the water running out. He was a sensible young man, so he took some clay and patched up the holes, bringing home enough water to bake a large cake.

When his mother asked if he would take half the cake with her blessing, he chose that instead of the whole cake with her curse. And yet the half was bigger than what the other lads had gotten altogether.

So he set out on his journey. After traveling a long way, he met an old woman who asked if he would give her a bit of his cake. He gladly gave her a piece. In return, she gave him a magical wand, saying it might help him if he used it right. The old woman was a fairy, and she told him many things that would happen and what he should do. Then she vanished. He went on and soon came to the old man herding the sheep. When he asked whose sheep they were, the man answered:

"The Red Etin of Ireland Once lived in Bellygan, And stole King Malcolm's daughter, The King of fair Scotland. He beats her, he binds her, He lays her on a band; And every day he dings her With a bright silver wand. Like Julian the Roman, He's one that fears no man, But now I fear his end is near, And destiny at hand; And you're to be, I plainly see, The heir of all his land."

He asked the same of the swineherd and the goatherd, and got the same answer.

When he reached the place where the monstrous beasts stood, he did not stop or run away, but walked boldly through among them. One came up roaring with open mouth to devour him, but he struck it with his wand and laid it dead at his feet. Soon he came to the Etin's castle, knocked, and was let in. The old woman by the fire warned him of the terrible Etin and what had happened to the two brothers, but he was not afraid. The monster soon came in, saying:

"Snouk but and snouk ben, I find the smell of an earthly man; Be he living, or be he dead, His heart shall be kitchen to my bread."

He quickly saw the young man and ordered him to step forward. Then he asked the three questions, but the young man had been told everything by the good fairy, so he answered them all. When the Etin realized this, he knew his power was gone.

The young man then took up an axe and chopped off the monster's three heads. He asked the old woman to show him where the King's daughters were. She led him upstairs and opened many doors. Out of each door came a beautiful lady who had been imprisoned by the Etin.

One of them was the King's daughter. She also took him down to a low room, where stood two stone pillars. He touched them with his wand, and his two friends sprang back to life.

All the prisoners were overjoyed at their freedom, which they knew was thanks to the clever young man. The next day they all set out for the King's court, a gallant company. The King married his daughter to the young man who had rescued her, and gave a noble's daughter to each of the other young men.

And so they all lived happily ever after.