"It's dangerous to go alone, take this."

I enjoy this line a lot. Anything you read into it, anything at all, ends up being a valid reading.

It's dangerous to go alone...unless you're armed. "Take this. Cool, not dangerous anymore, run along."

It's dangerous to go alone...which is another reason to go, not a reason not to go. 

"It's dangerous to go alone...but I'm staying here." Nobody is going to help you, least of all those who claim to be helping. He gives you a wooden stick. (Admittedly it's a laser stick, but I'ma call that a gameplay abstraction. The story is about a brave boy, not a boy with interstellar firearms mowing everything down.)

Dangerous to go where, old man? How do you even know what I'm doing? Does [silent protagonist] mean Link actually vomits his entire life story at everyone he meets? 

"It's dangerous to go alone, I guess. Take this stick so I don't feel bad, now piss off kid." 

"I have to say it's dangerous even though we both know it's not. You'll be fine with this stick." Ironically Zelda 1's challenge is pretty stiff actually, though maybe the old man knows you can respawn from the save screen.