young man, thinking he might have to travel a far way, and not knowing
when or how he might get other provisions, said he would like to have
the whole cake, come of his mother's malison what like; so she gave
him the whole cake, and her malison along with it. 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 and rusty, then for certain some ill had befallen him.

So the young man went to seek his fortune. And he went all that day,
and all the 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 went
up to the shepherd and asked him who the sheep belonged to; and he
answered:

"The Red Ettin of Ireland
Once 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 strikes her
With a bright silver wand.
Like Julian the Roman,
He's one that fears no man.

It's said there's one predestinate
To be his mortal foe;
But that man is yet unborn,