Hood

'The price is this: that on the day Albion is released, you will take the place of the man the giants have killed.'

'That is no burden to me,' remarked Bran with relief. 'I thought it would be more.'

'There are some who think the cost too great.' She shrugged her skinny shoulders, and Bran could almost hear them creak. 'Nevertheless, that is the price. Do you agree?'

'I do,' said Bran the Blessed. 'In truth, I would pay whatever you asked to break the curse and win my heart's desire.'

'Done! Done!' crowed the old woman in triumph. 'Then listen well, and do exactly as I say.'

Laying her bony fingers on Bran's strong arm, the hag led him from the mound and into the ruined forest. They passed through death and devastation that would have made the very stones weep, and walked on until they came to a high hill that was topped by a magnificent white fortress. At the base of the hill flowed a river; once sparkling and clear, it now ran ruddy brown with the blood of the slaughtered.

Pointing to the fortress, the hag said, 'Up there you will find the tribe of giants who have enthralled this fair island and whose presence is a very plague. Kill them all and the spell will be broken, and your triumph will be assured.'

'If that is all,' replied Bran grandly, 'why did you not tell me sooner? It is as good as done.' He made to start off at once.

The ancient crone prevented him, saying, 'Wait! There is more. You should know also that the giants have slain the Lord of the Forest and taken possession of his cauldron, called the Cauldron of Rebirth on account of its miraculous virtue: that whatever living creature, man or animal it matters not, though he were dead and dismembered, mutilated, torn into a thousand pieces, and those pieces eaten, if any part of the corpse is put into the cauldron when it is on the boil, life will return, and the creature will emerge hale and whole once more.'

Amazed, Bran exclaimed, 'Truly, that is a wonder! Rest assured that I will stop at nothing to reclaim this remarkable vessel.'

'Do so,' promised the hag, 'and your deepest desire will be granted.'

Off he went, crossing the river of blood and ascending the high hill. As Bran drew closer, he saw that the white fortress was not, as he had assumed, built of choice marble, but of the skulls and bones of murdered beasts and humans, used like so much rubble to erect the high white walls, turrets, and towers. A sickening smell rose from the bones, which, though it made him gag, also raised Bran's fury against the giants.

Boldly he approached the gate, and boldly entered. There was neither guard nor porter to prevent him, so he strode across the courtyard and entered the hall. However much the courtyard stank, the odour inside the hall was that much worse.

From the hall, he could hear the sound of a great roister. He crept to the massive door, peered inside, and instantly wished he had not. He saw seven giants, the least of which was three times the height of any human man, and the greatest amongst them was three times the height of the smallest. Each giant was a gruesomely ugly brute with pale, blotchy skin; shaggy, long hair that hung down his broad back in nasty, tangled hanks; and a single large eyebrow across his thick, overhanging forehead. Each giant was more hideous than the last, with fat, fleshy lips and an enormous, long nose shaped like the beak of a malformed bird. Their necks were short and squat, their arms ridiculously long, and their legs thin through the shank and fat at the thigh. They all carried clubs of iron, which any two human men would have found a burden to lift.

Three long tables filled the hall, and on those tables was a feast of roast meat of every kind of creature under heaven, which the giants ate with ravenous abandon. While they ate-rending the carcasses with their hands, stuffing the meat down their stubby necks, spitting out the bones, and then washing it all down with great, greedy draughts of rendered lard and fat drawn from a score of vats around the hall-they laughed and sang in disagreeable voices and raised such a revel that Bran's head throbbed like a beaten drum with the noise.

The Blessed Bran stood for a moment, gazing upon the carnage of the feast, and felt an implacable rage rise inside him. Then, across the hall, he spied an enormous kettle of burnished bronze and copper, silver and gold-so large it could easily hold sixteen human men at once; or three teams of oxen; or nine horses; or seven stags, three deer, and a fawn. A fire of oak logs blazed away beneath the prodigious vessel.

Seeing this, Bran thought, The prize is within my grasp, and taking a deep breath, he stepped boldly through the door. 'Giants!' he called, 'The feast is over! You have eaten your last corpse. I give you fair warning-doom is upon you!'

The giants were startled to hear this loud voice, and they were even more surprised when they saw the tiny man who made such a bold and foolish claim. They laughed in their beards and blew their noses at him. Two of them bared their horrible backsides, and the others mocked him with rude gestures. Up rose the chief of the monstrous clan, and he was the most repulsive brute of them all; taller than seven normal men, he was greasy with the blood of the meat he had been gorging.

Sneering, he opened his gate of a mouth and bellowed, 'What you lack in size, you make up for in stupidity. I've eaten five of your race already today and will gladly count you amongst them. What is your name, little man?'

'Call me Silidons, for such I am,' said Bran, hiding his true name behind a word that means 'nobody.' 'You will have to kill me first, and I have never lost a fight I entered.'

'Then you cannot have entered many. Today we will put you to the test.' So saying, the giant lifted his massive hand and commanded two of his nearest fellows forward. 'Seize him! Show this imbecile how we deal with anyone foolish enough to oppose us!'

The two giants rose and lumbered forth, their fleshy lips wide in distorted grins. Bran stepped forward, and as he did so, he grew in size to half again his height; another step doubled his size. Now the crown of his head came up to the giants' chests.

The giants saw this and were astonished but undaunted. 'Is that the best you can do?' they laughed. Taking up their iron clubs, they swung at Bran, first one way and then the other. Bran leapt over the first and ducked under the second; then, leaping straight up into the air, he lashed out with his foot and caught one of the giants in the middle of the forehead. The great brute dropped his club and grabbed his head. Snatching up the enormous weapon, Bran swung with all his might and crushed the skull of the giant, who gave out a throaty groan and lay still.

Seeing his comrade bested so easily infuriated the second attacker. Roaring with rage, he whirled his heavy club around his head and smashed it down, cracking the flagstones. Bran stepped neatly aside as the club struck the floor, then quickly climbed the broad shaft as if it were an iron mounting block. When the giant lifted the club, Bran leapt into the brute's face and drove both fists into the giant's eyes. The ghastly creature screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his eyes with both hands. Calmly, Bran picked up the club and swung hard. The brute pitched forward onto his face and rose no more.

Looking around, he called, 'Who will be next?'

Crazed with fear and spitting with rage, the remaining giants rose as one and charged Bran, who ran to meet them, growing bigger with every step until he was a head taller than the tallest. Four blows were thrown, one after another, and four giants fell, leaving only the enormous chieftain still on his feet. Not only bigger, he was also quicker than the others, and before Bran could turn, he reached out and seized Bran by the throat. Drawing a deep breath, Bran willed his neck to become a column of white granite; with all his strength the giant chieftain could not break that thick column.

Meanwhile, Bran took hold of the giant's protruding ears. Grabbing one in each hand, he yanked hard, pulling the giant chieftain forward and driving the point of his granite chin right between the odious monster's bulging eyes. The giant's knees buckled, and he tumbled backwards like a toppled pine tree, striking his head on the stone floor and expiring before he could draw his next breath.

Triumphant, Bran strode to the hearth and plucked the stillbubbling cauldron from the flames. Grasping the miraculous pot in his strong arms of stone, Bran walked from the castle of bone, back to the world outside, where he once again met the ancient hag who was waiting for him.

The hag jumped up and scurried to meet him. 'Truly, you are a mighty champion!' she cried. 'From this day you are my husband.'

Bran glanced at her askance. 'Lady, if lady you be, I am no such thing,' he declared. 'You said I would achieve my greatest desire, and marriage to you is far from that. And even if I were so minded, I could not, for I am promised to another.'