The Raven and the Red

[This will make a 'little' more sense if you're familiar with The Red Etin from Andrew Lang's "The Blue Fairy Book".]

The news came round like it always does
On the lips of my mother's visitors
That my friends were killed
Trying to drive off the Etin

And now the widow wished me gone
To try for fortune in a giant-tilled land
Where fatherless sons are sown
Their blood to redden his hair with
And beautiful women reaped
Their hearts to kitchen his bread with

She gathered me out the back door
To fetch her a pail of water
"No quick dip at the beck", she whispered
With a hush and a backward glance
"A cold clear can for my baking
From the farmer's deep dolven well"

I crossed the beck
I climbed the hill
I plumbed the well
And on my way back down
Toward me from the widows' rents
Capered an old man

Stranger creatures I have seen there
(On longer walks I've been sent)
But none have gone so proud yet bent
As this tattered old strutter went

He wore a dark cloak
And by his sharp nose
One eye was puckered and gone
The other stared out dark and lively
Through the strands of his lank black hair

We met where the path was narrow
And, pausing to measure our obstacle
He cocked his head and said:

"Mind your bucket, son."

I looked, I cursed
I set the leaking bucket down
To claw at the muddy bank
For some stiff clay for a patch
Before all the deep water ran out of it

He perched himself on the low rock wall
And set in to watch me scramble
A free show for free advice
Or perhaps it wasn't true to say
That he'd come by my way for free
But neither had he owed me

He tilted his head up
And gave a short, sharp laugh.
"No, I suppose it wasn't free."
He said, reading my thoughts.
"In fact, I think I can pay you
Better advice toward the balance."

His voice rounded deep in his throat
A close and quiet burble
"You are leaving to seek your fortune."

"My mother talks too much."

"She never spoke of you.
But that leads me to my first boon;
The one you'll need the soonest:
'Be generous with whatever you have.'
Myself, I am greatly endowed with eyes,"
He winked with a crooked smile.
"So, I give sight to all who will take it.

"My second boon is:
'Hear the people when they offer counsel
Even if it is of no consequence.'
They will tell others that you listened.

"Finally: 'In a contest of wands
Magic always beats the ding of silver.'"

"Will these sayings help me kill the Etin?"

"No. You won't kill him.
He'll turn you to stone like the rest."

"Then why should I go?"

"Because you must leave home,
As all boys do,
To break your crown
Against the might of giants."

He smiled at my frown
And lowering himself from the wall
Rose up straight and tall as a tree

"But, if you are generous and clever
We will tell your story
And add a happy ending.
Defeating silver, as I said,
With magic.
Then you will live on,
And we will always have hope
Of you driving out each Etin
That rises before us,
Fades into tatters,
And rises up again.

"Now go. I can see the woman
Who has sheltered and fed you
All these days until tomorrow.
She's looking out for you
To bring the water for her baking."

He turned and lumbered away over the hill
In great, slow strides
Like an old kingdomless giant

"You'd better hurry up, son," he called.
"She's hungry."