The Red Etin

Once upon a time, there lived a widow who tilled a small patch of land—not her own, but someone else's—and raised her two sons. The time came for her sons to set out into the world to seek their fortune.

One day, the mother told her eldest son to take a jug and fetch water from the spring: she wanted to knead dough to bake a pie for his journey. The pie could be big or small, depending on how much water he brought. Besides this pie, she had nothing else to give him.

The young man set off with the jug to the well and filled it with water. But the jug had a crack, and almost all the water leaked out before he returned home. So the pie turned out very small.

At their farewell, the mother asked her son:

"Perhaps you’ll take only half the pie? Then you’ll have my blessing as well. But if you take the whole pie, I’ll curse you."

The son thought that he would have to travel far, and he didn’t know where or how he’d find food, so he replied that he wanted the whole pie. Even if it came with his mother’s curse, so be it. And the mother gave him the whole pie and cursed him.

Then he called his younger brother aside, gave him his knife, and asked him to keep it safe.

"Look at it every morning," he instructed his brother. "If the blade is clean, it means I’m alive and well. But if it grows dull and rusty, know that I’m in trouble."

And so the eldest brother set off to seek his fortune. He walked for a day, then another, and by the end of the third day, he saw a shepherd tending a flock of sheep. The young man approached the shepherd and asked whose sheep they were. The shepherd replied:

"Where are you from, young man, that you don’t know who owns these lands?" And he told him:

The bloody, fearsome Ettin,
Ettin from Ireland,
Has taken to the north
The daughter of the King of Scotland.
He forbids her to sing or play,
And beats her with a tailed whip if she laughs.
He threatens her with a sword,
If she so much as shrugs.
Like Julius Caesar, he is fearless,
But his three-headed visage
Is hideous and terrible.
No one yet knows who the hero will be,
But his hour will come,
And the Bloody Ettin
Will be removed from Irish soil
By a steady hand.

The shepherd also told the young man that he would soon encounter beasts the likes of which he had never seen—so he should beware of them!

The young man walked on and soon saw a herd of terrifying two-headed beasts with four horns on each head. He was scared to death and ran as fast as he could. How relieved he was when he finally reached a castle on a low hill!

The castle gates were open. The young man rushed into the courtyard, then into the rooms, and saw an old woman by the hearth. He asked if he could spend the night there—he had been walking for a long time and was very tired.

The old woman replied that he could stay the night, but it would be better for him not to remain there—for this was the castle of the Red Ettin, a fearsome three-headed monster who spared no one who fell into his clutches.

The young man wanted to leave, but he was afraid of the beasts roaming around the castle, so he begged the old woman to hide him well and not betray him to the Red Ettin. "If I can just spend the night," he thought, "maybe I can slip away from the beasts in the morning." But no sooner had he hidden in a secluded spot than the fearsome Ettin returned home. As soon as he entered, he roared:

I’m not blind, I’m not dumb,
I smell a Briton’s spirit here.
Come out, if you’re brave,
For here your end is near.

The Ettin immediately found the poor young man and dragged him out of his hiding place. Then he said he would spare him if he could solve three riddles. And so the first head of the monster asked:

"What has no end?"

The young man couldn’t answer. Then the second head asked:

"The narrower it is, the more dangerous it is. What is it?"

But the young man couldn’t answer that either. Finally, the third head asked:

"The dead carry the living. What is it?"

But the young man failed again.

Then the Red Ettin grabbed a wooden mallet, struck the young man on the head, and he turned into a stone pillar.

The next morning, his younger brother took out the knife, looked at it, and was saddened—the entire blade had turned brown with rust. He told his mother it was time for him to set out as well. His mother asked him to take the jug and fetch water from the well so she could knead dough and bake a pie for him. As he carried the water home, a raven flew over his head and cawed:

"Look at the jug! The water is leaking." The young man was clever; he saw that the water was indeed leaking, picked up a piece of clay, and patched the cracks. He brought home enough water for a large pie.

At their farewell, his mother told him that if he wanted her blessing, he should take only half the pie. And the son decided it was better to take half with his mother’s blessing than the whole pie with her curse.

So the younger brother set off on his journey and had gone far when he met an old woman. She asked him for a piece of pie, and he replied:

"Here, eat it in good health!" and broke off a piece for her.

The old woman gave him a magic wand in return and said it would come in handy if he used it wisely. The old woman was a fairy. She foretold everything that would happen to him and taught him what to do, then vanished.

The young man walked and walked until he saw an old man tending sheep. When he asked whose sheep they were, he heard the answer:

The bloody, fearsome Ettin,
Ettin from Ireland,
Has taken to the north
The daughter of the King of Scotland.
He forbids her to sing or play,
And beats her with a tailed whip if she laughs.
He threatens her with a sword,
If she so much as shrugs.
Like Julius Caesar, he is fearless,
But his three-headed visage
Is hideous and terrible.
But the hour has come at last,
And the Bloody Ettin
Will meet his end.
Hail to you, hero.
When you defeat the villain,
His lands will be yours!

Finally, the young man reached the place where the horned beasts were grazing. But he didn’t stop or run away; instead, he boldly walked among them—as the kind fairy had taught him. One beast roared and lunged at the young man, its jaws wide to devour him. But the young man struck the beast with his magic wand, and in an instant, the monster fell dead at his feet.

The young man reached the Red Ettin’s castle, knocked on the door, and was let in. An old woman sat by the fire. She told him what had happened to his older brother, but the young man wasn’t afraid.

Soon, the Ettin returned and roared:

I’m not blind, I’m not dumb,
I smell a Briton’s spirit here.
Come out, if you’re brave,
For here your end is near.

The Ettin saw the young man, ordered him to come closer, and said he would pose him three riddles. The first head of the Red Ettin asked:

"What has no end?"

"A ring," replied the young man.

Then the second head asked:

"The narrower it is, the more dangerous it is. What is it?"

"A bridge," he answered immediately.

Finally, the third head asked:

"The dead carry the living. What is it?" And without hesitation, the young man said:

"A ship at sea, with people aboard."

The Ettin heard his answers and knew his reign was over. The young man raised an axe and cut off all three of the monster’s heads. Then he asked the old woman to show him where the King of Scotland’s daughter was hidden, and she led him to the upper chambers.

She opened door after door, and from each room emerged beautiful women. They were all captives of the Red Ettin, and among them was the king’s daughter.

Finally, the old woman led the young man to the dungeon, where a stone pillar stood. The young man touched it with his wand, and his brother came back to life.

The captives rejoiced and thanked their liberator. The next day, they all set off to the king, joyful and merry. The king gave his daughter in marriage to the younger brother, and found a noble bride for the elder brother as well. The brothers lived happily ever after, and they never forgot their old mother.

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The Red Etin

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