# 🧒 The Red Etin Live Reading Junior Classics Library #kids #books #publicdomain #traditional

An episode of [Toddle Poddle](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1710389589), 9 Mar 2026, 10 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70522955/englishfairytales_35_steel_128kb.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five of English fairy Tales. This is a
[0:04] Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
[0:09] Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
[0:14] Speaker 1: Recording by Sonya English fairy Tales by Flora and he
[0:19] Speaker 1: Steel the red Etinn. There was once a widow that
[0:24] Speaker 1: lived on a small bit of ground which he rented
[0:27] Speaker 1: from a farmer. And she had two sons, and by
[0:30] Speaker 1: and by it was time for the wife to send
[0:33] Speaker 1: them away to seek their fortune. So she told her
[0:36] Speaker 1: eldest son one day to take a can and bring
[0:38] Speaker 1: her water from the well, that she might bake a
[0:41] Speaker 1: cake for him. And however much or however little water
[0:45] Speaker 1: he might bring, the cake would be great or small accordingly,
[0:49] Speaker 1: and that cake was to be all that she could
[0:51] Speaker 1: give him when he went on his travels. The lad
[0:54] Speaker 1: went away with the can to the well and filled
[0:57] Speaker 1: it with water, and then came away home again. But
[1:00] Speaker 1: the can being broken, the most part of the water
[1:03] Speaker 1: had run out before he got back, so his cake
[1:06] Speaker 1: was very small. Yet small as it was, his mother
[1:10] Speaker 1: asked him if he was willing to take the half
[1:13] Speaker 1: of it with her blessing, telling him that if he
[1:16] Speaker 1: chose rather to take the hole, he would only get
[1:19] Speaker 1: it with her curse. The young man, thinking he might
[1:22] Speaker 1: have to travel a far away and not knowing when
[1:25] Speaker 1: or how he might get other provisions, said he would
[1:28] Speaker 1: like to have the whole cake come of his mother's
[1:31] Speaker 1: mallison what might So she gave him the whole cake
[1:35] Speaker 1: and her Malleson along with it. Then he took his
[1:38] Speaker 1: brother aside and gave him a knife to keep it
[1:41] Speaker 1: till he should come back, desiring him to look at
[1:43] Speaker 1: it every morning, and as long as it continued to
[1:46] Speaker 1: be clear, then he might be sure that the owner
[1:49] Speaker 1: of it was well. But if it grew dim and rusty,
[1:52] Speaker 1: then for certain some ill had befallen him. So the
[1:56] Speaker 1: young man went to seek his fortune. And he went
[1:59] Speaker 1: on all that day and all the next day, and
[2:02] Speaker 1: on the third day, in the afternoon he came up
[2:05] Speaker 1: to where shepherd was sitting with a flock of sheep.
[2:09] Speaker 1: And he went up to the shepherd and asked him
[2:11] Speaker 1: to whom the sheep belonged, And he answered to the
[2:15] Speaker 1: red Etin of Ireland, who lives in Belligan. He stole
[2:19] Speaker 1: King Malcolm's daughter, the King of fair Scotland. He beats her,
[2:24] Speaker 1: he binds her, he lays her on a band, and
[2:27] Speaker 1: every day he strikes her with a bright silver Wand
[2:31] Speaker 1: Tis said, there's one predestinate to be his mortal foe.
[2:36] Speaker 1: But sure that man is yet unborn, and long may
[2:39] Speaker 1: it be so. After this, the shepherd told him to
[2:43] Speaker 1: beware of the beasts he should next meet, for they
[2:46] Speaker 1: were of a very different kind from any he had
[2:49] Speaker 1: yet seen. So the young man went on and by
[2:53] Speaker 1: and by he saw a multitude of very dreadful, terrible,
[2:57] Speaker 1: horrible beasts with two heads, and on every head four horns.
[3:02] Speaker 1: And he was sore frightened, and ran away from them
[3:05] Speaker 1: as fast as he could. And glad was he when
[3:07] Speaker 1: he came to a castle that stood on a hillock,
[3:10] Speaker 1: with the doors standing wide open to the wall. And
[3:13] Speaker 1: he went into the castle for shelter, and there he
[3:17] Speaker 1: saw an old wife sitting beside the kitchen fire. He
[3:20] Speaker 1: asked the wife if he might stay for the night,
[3:23] Speaker 1: as he was tired with a long journey, and the
[3:26] Speaker 1: wife said he might, but it was not a good
[3:28] Speaker 1: place for him to be in, as it belonged to
[3:31] Speaker 1: the red Etin, who was a very terrible monster with
[3:34] Speaker 1: three heads, who spared no living man it could get
[3:37] Speaker 1: hold of. The young man would have gone away, but
[3:41] Speaker 1: he was afraid of the two headed, four horned beasts outside,
[3:45] Speaker 1: so he beseeched the old woman to hide him as
[3:48] Speaker 1: best she could and not tell the atin he was there.
[3:52] Speaker 1: He thought, if he could put over the night, he
[3:54] Speaker 1: might get away in the morning without meeting with the dreadful, terrible,
[3:59] Speaker 1: horrible beasts, and so escape. But he had not been
[4:03] Speaker 1: long in his hiding hole before the awful attyn came in.
[4:07] Speaker 1: And no sooner was he in than he was heard crying,
[4:11] Speaker 1: snookebot and snoopman. I find the smell of an earthly man,
[4:16] Speaker 1: be he living orbeit he dead? His heart this knight
[4:20] Speaker 1: shall kitchen my bread well. The monster began to search about,
[4:26] Speaker 1: and he soon found the poor young man and pulled
[4:29] Speaker 1: him from his hiding place. And when he had got
[4:32] Speaker 1: him out, he told him that if he could answer
[4:34] Speaker 1: him three questions, his life should be spared. So the
[4:39] Speaker 1: first head asked, a thing without an end, what's that?
[4:44] Speaker 1: But the young man knew not. Then the second head said,
[4:49] Speaker 1: the smaller, the more dangerous, what's that? But the young
[4:54] Speaker 1: man knew not. And then the third head asked the
[4:59] Speaker 1: dead carri being the living, riddle me that, but the
[5:03] Speaker 1: young man knew not. So the lad not being able
[5:07] Speaker 1: to answer one of these questions, the red etinn took
[5:10] Speaker 1: a mallet from behind the door, knocked him on the head,
[5:13] Speaker 1: and turned him into a pillar of stone. Now, on
[5:17] Speaker 1: the morning after this happened, the younger brother took out
[5:20] Speaker 1: the knife to look at it, and he was grieved
[5:23] Speaker 1: to find it all brown with rust. So he told
[5:26] Speaker 1: his mother that the time was now come for him
[5:28] Speaker 1: to go away upon his travels. Also, at first she
[5:32] Speaker 1: refused to let him go, but at last she requested
[5:35] Speaker 1: him to take the can to the well for water
[5:38] Speaker 1: that she might make a cake for him. So he went,
[5:41] Speaker 1: but as he was bringing home the water, a raven
[5:44] Speaker 1: over his head cried to him to look, and he
[5:47] Speaker 1: would see that the water was running out. Now, being
[5:50] Speaker 1: a young man of sense and seeing the water running out,
[5:53] Speaker 1: he took some clay and patched up the holes, so
[5:56] Speaker 1: that he brought home enough water to bake a large cake.
[6:00] Speaker 1: And when his mother put it to him to take
[6:02] Speaker 1: the half cake with her blessing, he took it instead
[6:05] Speaker 1: of having the hole with her Madison. So he went
[6:08] Speaker 1: away on his journey with his mother's blessing. Now, after
[6:12] Speaker 1: he had traveled far away, he met with an old
[6:15] Speaker 1: woman who asked him if he would give her a
[6:17] Speaker 1: bit of his cake, And he said, I will gladly
[6:21] Speaker 1: do that, So he gave her a piece of the cake.
[6:24] Speaker 1: Then the old woman, who was a fairy, gave him
[6:27] Speaker 1: a magic wand that might yet be of service to
[6:30] Speaker 1: him if he took care to use it rightly. And
[6:33] Speaker 1: she told him a great deal that would happen to him,
[6:36] Speaker 1: and what he ought to do in all circumstances. And
[6:39] Speaker 1: after that she vanished in an instant, out of his sight.
[6:44] Speaker 1: Then he went on his way until he came up
[6:46] Speaker 1: to the old man who was herding the sheep. And
[6:48] Speaker 1: when he asked whose sheep these were, the answer was
[6:53] Speaker 1: to the red etin of Ireland, who lives in Ballygan.
[6:56] Speaker 1: He is stole King Malcolm's daughter, the King of fair Scotland.
[7:01] Speaker 1: He beats her, he bind her, he lays her on
[7:04] Speaker 1: a band, and every day he strikes her with a
[7:07] Speaker 1: bright silver Wand But now I fear his end is near,
[7:12] Speaker 1: and death is close at hand. For a year to
[7:15] Speaker 1: be I plainly see the heir of all his land.
[7:20] Speaker 1: So the younger brother went on his way. But when
[7:23] Speaker 1: he came to the place where the dreadful, terrible, horrible
[7:26] Speaker 1: beasts were standing, he did not stop nor run away,
[7:30] Speaker 1: but went boldly through. Amongst them. One came up, roaring
[7:34] Speaker 1: with open mouth to devour him, when he struck it
[7:37] Speaker 1: with his wont and laid it in an instant dead
[7:40] Speaker 1: at his feet. He soon came to the Atin's castle,
[7:43] Speaker 1: where he found the door shut, but he knocked boldly
[7:47] Speaker 1: and was admitted. Then the old woman who sat by
[7:50] Speaker 1: the fire warned him of the terrible Atin and what
[7:53] Speaker 1: had been the fate of his brother. But he was
[7:56] Speaker 1: not to be daunted and would not even hide. Then
[7:59] Speaker 1: by and by the monster came in, crying, as before,
[8:04] Speaker 1: snokebo and snoke pan, I find the smell of an
[8:07] Speaker 1: earthly man, and be ye living or be ye dead
[8:11] Speaker 1: his heart this night shall kitchen my bread well. He
[8:15] Speaker 1: quickly espied the young man and bade him stand forth
[8:18] Speaker 1: on the floor, and told him that if he could
[8:21] Speaker 1: answer three questions, his life would be spared. So the
[8:25] Speaker 1: first head asked, what's the thing without an end? Now?
[8:30] Speaker 1: The younger brother had been told by the fairy to
[8:33] Speaker 1: whom he had given a piece of his cake, what
[8:36] Speaker 1: he ought to say, So he answered a bowl. Then
[8:40] Speaker 1: the first head frowned, but the second head asked, the smaller,
[8:45] Speaker 1: the more dangerous, what's that a bridge? Says the younger brother,
[8:51] Speaker 1: quite fast. Then the first and the second heads frowned,
[8:56] Speaker 1: But the third head asked, when does the dead care?
[9:00] Speaker 1: The living? Riddled me that At this the young man
[9:04] Speaker 1: answered up at once and said, when a ship sailed
[9:08] Speaker 1: on the sea with men inside her. When the red
[9:12] Speaker 1: Etin found all his riddles answered, he knew that his
[9:15] Speaker 1: power was gone, so he tried to escape. But the
[9:18] Speaker 1: young man took up an axe and hewed off the
[9:21] Speaker 1: monster's three heads. Then he asked the old woman to
[9:25] Speaker 1: show him where the king's daughter lay. And the old
[9:27] Speaker 1: woman took him upstairs and opened the great many doors,
[9:31] Speaker 1: and out of every door came a beautiful lady who
[9:34] Speaker 1: had been imprisoned there by the red etin. And last
[9:37] Speaker 1: of all the ladies was the king's daughter. Then the
[9:41] Speaker 1: old woman took him down into a low room, and
[9:43] Speaker 1: there stood a stone pillar. But he had only to
[9:46] Speaker 1: touch it with his wand and his brothers started into life.
[9:51] Speaker 1: So the whole of the prisoners were overjoyed at their deliverance,
[9:54] Speaker 1: for which they thanked the younger brother again and again.
[9:58] Speaker 1: Next day they all set out for the king's court,
[10:01] Speaker 1: and the gallant company they made. Then the king married
[10:04] Speaker 1: his daughter to the young man who had delivered her,
[10:07] Speaker 1: and gave a noble's daughter to his brother. So they
[10:10] Speaker 1: all lived happily all the rest of their days, and
[10:16] Speaker 1: of the red etin

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