Part 6 (1/2)

And the terrified youth soon found out what the ”Something” was, for very soon the horrible Monster came into the kitchen, crying out in a voice like thunder:

”Seek but, and seek ben, I smell the smell of an earthly man!

Be he living, or be he dead, His heart this night I shall eat with my bread.”

And it was not very long before he discovered the poor young man's hiding-place and pulled him roughly out of it.

Of course, the lad begged that his life might be spared, but the Monster only laughed at him.

”It will be spared if thou canst answer three questions,” he said; ”if not, it is forfeited.”

The first of these three questions was, ”Whether Ireland or Scotland was first inhabited?”

The second, ”How old was the world when Adam was made?”

And the third, ”Whether men or beasts were created first?”

The lad was not skilled in such matters, having had but little book-learning, and he could not answer the questions. So the Monster struck him on the head with a queer little hammer which he carried, and turned him into a piece of stone.

Now every morning since he had left home his younger brother had done as he had promised, and had carefully examined his hunting-knife.

On the first two mornings it was bright and clear, but on the third morning he was very much distressed to find that it was dull and rusty.

He looked at it for a few moments in great dismay; then he ran straight to his mother, and held it out to her.

”By this token I know that some mischief hath befallen my brother,” he said, ”so I must set out at once to see what evil hath come upon him.”

”First must thou go to the well and fetch me some water,” said his mother, ”that I may bake thee a cake to carry with thee, as I baked a cake for him who is gone. And I will say to thee what I said to him.

That the cake will be large or small according as thou bringest much or little water back with thee.”

So the lad took the can, as his brother had done, and went off to the well, and it seemed as if some evil spirit directed him to follow his example in all things, for he brought home little water, and he chose the whole cake and his mother's malison, instead of the half and her blessing, and he set out and met the shepherd, and the swineherd, and the goatherd, and they all gave the same answers to him which they had given to his brother. And he also encountered the same fierce beasts, and ran from them in terror, and took shelter from them in the Castle; and the old woman hid him, and the Red-Etin found him, and, because he could not answer the three questions, he, too, was turned into a pillar of stone.

And no more would ever have been heard of these two youths had not a kind Fairy, who had seen all that had happened, appeared to the other widow and her son, as they were sitting at supper one night in the gloaming, and told them the whole story, and how their two poor young neighbours had been turned into pillars of stone by a cruel enchanter called Red-Etin.

Now the third young man was both brave and strong, and he determined to set out to see if he could in anywise help his two friends. And, from the very first moment that he had made up his mind to do so, things went differently with him than they had with them. I think, perhaps, that this was because he was much more loving and thoughtful than they were.

For, when his mother sent him to fetch water from the well so that she might bake a cake for him, just as the other mother had done for her sons, a raven, flying above his head, croaked out that his can was leaking, and he, wis.h.i.+ng to please his mother by bringing her a good supply of water, patched up the hole with clay, and so came home with the can quite full.

Then, when his mother had baked a big bannock for him, and giving him his choice between the whole cake and her malison, or half of it and her blessing, he chose the latter, ”for,” said he, throwing his arms round her neck, ”I may light on other cakes to eat, but I will never light on another blessing such as thine.”

And the curious thing was, that, after he had said this, the half cake which he had chosen seemed to spread itself out, and widen, and broaden, till it was bigger by far than it had been at first.

Then he started on his journey, and, after he had gone a good way he began to feel hungry. So he pulled it out of his pocket and began to eat it.

Just then he met an old woman, who seemed to be very poor, for her clothing was thin, and worn, and old, and she stopped and spoke to him.

”Of thy charity, kind Master,” she said, stretching out one of her withered hands, ”spare me a bit of the cake that thou art eating.”

Now the youth was very hungry, and he could have eaten it all himself, but his kind heart was touched by the woman's pinched face, so he broke it in two, and gave her half of it.

Instantly she was changed into the Fairy who had appeared to his mother and himself as they had sat at supper the night before, and she smiled graciously at the generous lad, and held out a little wand to him.