Part 5 (2/2)
”That does not tell me much; but somehow I do not fancy this Red-Etin for a master,” thought the youth, and he went on his way.
He had not gone very far, however, when he saw another old man, with snow-white hair, herding a flock of swine; and as he wondered to whom the swine belonged, and if there was any chance of him getting a situation as a swineherd, he went up to the countryman, and asked who was the owner of the animals.
He got the same answer from the swineherd that he had got from the shepherd:
”The Red-Etin of Ireland Ance lived in Ballygan, 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 ane predestinate To be his mortal foe, But that man is yet unborn, And lang may it be so.”
”Plague on this old Red-Etin; I wonder when I will get out of his domains,” he muttered to himself; and he journeyed still further.
Presently he came to a very, very old man--so old, indeed, that he was quite bent with age--and he was herding a flock of goats.
Once more the traveller asked to whom the animals belonged, and once more he got the same answer:
”The Red-Etin of Ireland Ance lived in Ballygan, 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 ane predestinate To be his mortal foe, But that man is yet unborn, And lang may it be so.”
But this ancient goatherd added a piece of advice at the end of his rhyme. ”Beware, stranger,” he said, ”of the next herd of beasts that ye shall meet. Sheep, and swine, and goats will harm n.o.body; but the creatures ye shall now encounter are of a sort that ye have never met before, and _they_ are not harmless.”
The young man thanked him for his counsel, and went on his way, and he had not gone very far before he met a herd of very dreadful creatures, unlike anything that he had ever dreamed of in all his life.
For each of them had three heads, and on each of its three heads it had four horns; and when he saw them he was so frightened that he turned and ran away from them as fast as he could.
Up hill and down dale he ran, until he was well-nigh exhausted; and, just when he was beginning to feel that his legs would not carry him any further, he saw a great Castle in front of him, the door of which was standing wide open.
He was so tired that he went straight in, and after wandering through some magnificent halls, which appeared to be quite deserted, he reached the kitchen, where an old woman was sitting by the fire.
He asked her if he might have a night's lodging, as he had come a long and weary journey, and would be glad of somewhere to rest.
”You can rest here, and welcome, for me,” said the old Dame, ”but for your own sake I warn you that this is an ill house to bide in; for it is the Castle of the Red-Etin, who is a fierce and terrible Monster with three heads, and he spareth neither man nor woman, if he can get hold of them.”
Tired as he was, the young man would have made an effort to escape from such a dangerous abode had he not remembered the strange and awful beasts from which he had just been fleeing, and he was afraid that, as it was growing dark, if he set out again he might chance to walk right into their midst. So he begged the old woman to hide him in some dark corner, and not to tell the Red-Etin that he was in the Castle.
”For,” thought he, ”if I can only get shelter until the morning, I will then be able to avoid these terrible creatures and go on my way in peace.”
So the old Dame hid him in a press under the back stairs, and, as there was plenty of room in it, he settled down quite comfortably for the night.
But just as he was going off to sleep he heard an awful roaring and trampling overhead. The Red-Etin had come home, and it was plain that he was searching for something.
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