Part 6 (2/2)

”Though thou knowest it not, thy mother's blessing and thy kindness to an old and poor woman hath gained thee many blessings, brave boy,” he said. ”Keep that as thy reward; thou wilt need it ere thy errand be done.” Then, bidding him sit down on the gra.s.s beside her, she told him all the dangers that he would meet on his travels, and the way in which he could overcome them, and then, in a moment, before he could thank her, she vanished out of his sight.

But with the little wand, and all the instructions that she had given him, he felt that he could face fearlessly any danger that he might be called on to meet, so he rose from the gra.s.s and went his way, full of a cheerful courage.

After he had walked for many miles further, he came, as each of his friends had done, to the old shepherd herding his sheep. And, like them, he asked to whom the sheep belonged. And this time the old man answered:

”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.

”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.”

Then the young man went on, and he came to the swineherd, and to the goatherd; and each of them in turn repeated the same words to him.

And, when he came to where the droves of monstrous beasts were, he was not afraid of them, and when one came running up to him with its mouth wide open to devour him, he just struck it with his wand, and it dropped down dead at his feet.

At last he arrived at the Red-Etin's Castle, and he knocked boldly at the door. The old woman answered his knock, and, when he had told her his errand, warned him gravely not to enter.

”Thy two friends came here before thee,” she said, ”and they are now turned into two pillars of stone; what advantage is it to thee to lose thy life also?”

But the young man only laughed. ”I have knowledge of an art of which they knew nothing,” he said. ”And methinks I can fight the Red-Etin with his own weapons.”

So, much against her will, the old woman let him in, and hid him where she had hid his friends.

It was not long before the Monster arrived, and, as on former occasions, he came into the kitchen in a furious rage, crying:

”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.”

Then he peered into the young man's hiding-place, and called to him to come out. And after he had come out, he put to him the three questions, never dreaming that he could answer them; but the Fairy had told the youth what to say, and he gave the answers as pat as any book.

Then the Red-Etin's heart sank within him for fear, for he knew that someone had betrayed him, and that his power was gone.

And gone in very truth it was. For when the youth took an axe and began to fight with him, he had no strength to resist, and, before he knew where he was, his heads were cut off. And that was the end of the Red-Etin.

As soon as he saw that his enemy was really dead, the young man asked the old woman if what the shepherd, and the swineherd, and the goatherd had told him were true, and if King Malcolm's daughter were really a prisoner in the Castle.

The old woman nodded. ”Even with the Monster lying dead at my feet, I am almost afraid to speak of it,” she said. ”But come with me, my gallant gentleman, and thou wilt see what dule and misery the Red-Etin hath caused to many a home.”

She took a huge bunch of keys, and led him up a long flight of stairs, which ended in a pa.s.sage with a great many doors on each side of it. She unlocked these doors with her keys, and, as she opened them, she put her head into every room and said, ”Ye have naught to fear now, Madam, the Predestinated Deliverer hath come, and the Red-Etin is dead.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: And that was the end of the Red-Etin]

And behold, with a cry of joy, out of every room came a beautiful lady who had been stolen from her home, and shut up there, by the Red-Etin.

Among them was one who was more beautiful and stately than the rest, and all the others bowed down to her and treated her with such great reverence that it was clear to see that she was the Royal Princess, King Malcolm's daughter.

And when the youth stepped forward and did reverence to her also, she spoke so sweetly to him, and greeted him so gladly, and called him her Deliverer, in such a low, clear voice, that his heart was taken captive at once.

<script>