the Blue Fairy book by Andrew Lang the red Ethan
there were unstoire widows that lived on a small bitter ground which they rented from a farmer one
of them had twas sons and the other had earned and by and by it was time for the wife that had
twas Sons to send them away to seek their Fortune so she told her eldest son a day to take a can and
bring her water from the well and she might bake a cake for him and however much or however little
water he might bring the cake would be a great or sm
all accordingly and that cake was to be all that
she could ghee him when he went on his travels the lad Gateway with a can to the well and filled
it with water and then came again but the can being broken the maced part of the water had run
out before he got back so his cake was very small yet small as it was his mother asked if he was
willing to take the half of it with her blessing telling him that if he chose rather to have
the hail he would only get it where a curse the young man thinki
ng he might hate to
travel far away and not knowing when or how he might get other Provisions said he would
like to hate a hail cake come with his mother's malice and would like so she gave him the
hail cake and her malice in the language then he took his brother aside and gave him a
knife to keep till he should come back Desiring him to look at it every morning and as long as it
continued to be clear then he might be sure that the owner of it was well but if it grew dim in the
rusty then
for certain some ill had befallen him so the young man set out to seek his fortune
and he gave other day and other next day and on the third day in the afternoon he came up
to where a Shepherd was sitting with a flock of sheep and he gave up to the shepherd and asked
him what a sheep be lying to and the man answered the red Eton of Ireland once lived in beligan
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 land like
Julian the Roman he's one that fears no man said there was on predestined to be his mortal foe
but that man is yet unborn and Lang may it be so the young man then went on his journey and he
had not gone far when he inspired an old man with white blocks herding a flock of swine
and he gave up to him and asked who swined these were when the man answered the red Ethan
of Ireland once lived in belligan and stole King Malcolm's daughter the king of pharaoh Scot
land
he beats her he binds relays her on a band and every day he dings her with a bright silver wind
like Julian the Roman he's one at fears no man said there's unpredestined to be his mortal foe
but that man is yet unborn and Langley at his soul then the young man gave down a bit Felder and
came to another Very Old Man herding goats and when he asked whose gods they were the answer was
the red Eton of Ireland aunts lived in baligan and stole King Malcolm's daughter the
king of Phar Scotla
nd 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 said there's unpredestined to be his mortal fall but that man is yet Unborn and Lang may it
be so this old man also told him to Beware of the next beasts that he should meet for they were
of a very different kind from any he had yet seen so the young man went on and
bind by he saw a multitude of varied Dreadful beasts ilk and Adam with
two heads and on every head four horns and he was so frightened and ran away
from them as fast as he could and glad was he when he came to a castle that stood on
a hillock with a door standing wide to the wall and he gave into the castle for shelter and there
he saw an old wife sitting beside the kitchen fire he asked the wife if he might stay there for the
night as he was tired with a long journey and the wife said he might it was not a good place
for him to be in as it belanged to the red
Eton was a very terrible Beast with three heads
that spared no living man he could get hold of the young man would have gone away but he was
afraid of the beasts on the outside of the castle so he beseeched the old woman to conceal him as
well as she could and not to tell the aten that he was there he thought if he could put over the
night he might get away in the morning without meeting with the beasts and so Escape but he had
not been long in his hidey hole before the awful Ethan came in
and nay sunar was he in and he was
heard crying snark bot and snark Bane 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 from his hole and when he had got him out he told him that if he could answer
him three questions his life should be spared the first was whether Ireland or Scotland
was first inhabited the second was whether man was made for a woman or woman for man the
th
ird was whether men or brutes were made first the lad not being able to answer one
of these questions the red Ethan took a mace and knocked him on the head
and turned him into a pillar a stone on the morning after this happened the younger
brother took out the knife to look at it and he was grieved to find
it to Brown with the rust he told his mother that the time was now
come for him to go away upon his travels also so she requested him to take the can to the well
for water that she might
bake a cake for him the can being broken he brought him as little water
as the other had done and the cake was his little she asked whether he would have the hail cake
with her malison with a half we're blessing and like his brother he thought it best to have
the hail cake come of the malice in what might so he gave away everything happened to
him that had happened to his brother the other Widow and her son heard of all that had
happened Freya Ferry the young man determined that he would g
o also upon his travels and see if
he could do anything to relieve his 12 friends so his mother gave him a can to go to the
well and bring home water that she might bake him a cake for his journey and he gave
and as he was bringing him the water a raven or a boony's head cried him to look and he
would see that the water was running out and there was a young man of sense and seeing the
water running out he took some clay and patched up the holes so that he brought home enough water
to bake
a large cake when his mother put it to him to take the half cake with her blessing he took it
in preference to having the hail with her malison and yet the half was bigger than what
the other Lads had got all together so he gate away on his journey and after he had
traveled far away he met with an old woman that asked him if he would give her a bit of his
panic and he said he would gladly do that and so he gave her a piece to the Bannock
and for that she give him a magical wand that she sai
d might yet be of service
to him if he took care to use it rightly then the old woman who was a fairy told him a
great deal that would happen to him and what he ought to do in all circumstances and after
that she vanished in an instant out of his sight he gave on a great way further and then he came up
to the old man herding the sheep and when he asked whose sheep these were the answer was the red Eton
of Ireland once lived in baligan and stole King Malcolm's daughter the king of fair Scotl
and he
beats her he binds her he lays her on a band and every day he dings her with a bright silver land
like Julian the Roman he's one that fears no man but now I fear his and is near and Destiny at hand
and you're to be I plainly see the air of all his land the young man then went on his journey and
he'd not gone far when he inspired an old man with white locks hurting a flock of swine and he
gave up to him and asked whose swine these were when the man answered of Ireland once lived in
b
eligan and stole King Malcolm's daughter of 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 white silver or wind like Julian the Roman
he's one that Fierce no man now I feel this end is near and Destiny at hand and you are to be I
plainly see the air of all his land then the young man gave on a bit further and came to the Very Old
Man heralding goats and he asked whose goats they were and the answer was the red Eton of Ireland
once
lived in beligan and stole King Malcolm's daughter the king of pharaoh 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
to 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 this old man also told him to Beware of the next
beasts that he should meet for they were of a very different kind from any he had yet seen when he
came to th
e place with a monstrous Beast were standing he did not stop now run away but went
boldly through among them one came up roaring with open mouth to devour him and he struck it with his
wand and laid it in an instant dead at his feet he soon came to the Athens castle where he
knocked and was admitted the old woman that sat by the fighter warned him of the terrible
ethanine what had been the fate of his 12 Brothers but he was not to be daunted the monster soon
came in saying snock butt and th
e snock Bane 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 aspired the young man and paid him
come forth on the floor and then he put the three questions to him but the young man had
been told everything by the good fairy so he was able to answer all the questions when the
aten found this he knew that his power was gone the young man then took up the ax and
hewed off the monster's three heads he next asked the old woman to sh
ow him where
the King's Daughters lay the old woman took him upstairs and opened a great many doors
and out of every door came a beautiful lady who had been imprisoned there by the atten
and under the ladies was the King's Daughter she also took him down into a little room
and there stood two Stone pillars that he had only to touch with his wand and his
two friends and neighbors started into life and the hail of the prisoners were
Overjoyed at their Deliverance they all acknowledged to be
owing to The Prudent young man next day they all set out for the king's court and
a gallant company they made and the King married his daughter to the young man that had delivered
her and gave a Noble's daughter to ilk honor the other young men so they all lived happily
all the rest of their days end of the red Eton
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