BALL-CARRIER AND THE BAD ONE

Edition and rights: Original English text from Project Gutenberg ebook #31201, marked public domain in the USA. The literary text below is reproduced without AI rewriting.

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Far, far in the forest there were two little huts, and in
each of them lived a man who was a famous hunter, his
wife, and three or four children. Now the children were
forbidden to play more than a short distance from the
door, as it was known that, away on the other side of the
wood near the great river, there dwelt a witch who had a
magic ball that she used as a means of stealing children.

Her plan was a very simple one, and had never yet
failed. When she wanted a child she just flung her ball
in the direction of the child’s home, and however far off
it might be, the ball was sure to reach it. Then, as soon
as the child saw it, the ball would begin rolling slowly
back to the witch, just keeping a little ahead of the
child, so that he always thought that he could catch it
the next minute. But he never did, and, what was more,
his parents never saw him again.

Of course you must not suppose that all the fathers and
mothers who had lost children made no attempts to find
them, but the forest was so large, and the witch was so
cunning in knowing exactly where they were going to
search, that it was very easy for her to keep out of the
way. Besides, there was always the chance that the
children might have been eaten by wolves, of which
large herds roamed about in winter.

One day the old witch happened to want a little boy,
so she threw her ball in the direction of the hunters’ huts.
A child was standing outside, shooting at a mark with
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his bow and arrows, but the moment he saw the ball,
which was made of glass whose blues and greens and
whites, all frosted over, kept changing one into the other,
he flung down his bow, and stooped to pick the ball up.
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But as he did so it began to roll very gently downhill.
The boy could not let it roll away, when it was so close
to him, so he gave chase. The ball seemed always within
his grasp, yet he could never catch it; it went quicker
and quicker, and the boy grew more and more excited.
That time he almost touched it—no, he missed it by a
hair’s breadth! Now, surely, if he gave a spring he could
get in front of it! He sprang forward, tripped and fell,
and found himself in the witch’s house!

‘Welcome! welcome! grandson!’ said she; ‘get up
and rest yourself, for you have had a long walk, and I am
sure you must be tired!’ So the boy sat down, and ate
some food which she gave him in a bowl. It was quite
different from anything he had tasted before, and he
thought it was delicious. When he had eaten up every
bit, the witch asked him if he had ever fasted.

‘No,’ replied the boy, ‘at least I have been obliged to
sometimes, but never if there was any food to be had.’

‘You will have to fast if you want the spirits to
make you strong and wise, and the sooner you begin
the better.’

‘Very well,’ said the boy, ‘what do I do first?’

‘Lie down on those buffalo skins by the door of
the hut,’ answered she; and the boy lay down, and the
squirrels and little bears and the birds came and talked to
him.

At the end of ten days the old woman came to him
with a bowl of the same food that he had eaten before.

‘Get up, my grandson, you have fasted long enough.
Have the good spirits visited you, and granted you the
strength and wisdom that you desire?’

‘Some of them have come, and have given me a
portion of both,’ answered the boy, ‘but many have
stayed away from me.’

‘Then,’ said she, ‘you must fast ten days more.’

So the boy lay down again on the buffalo skins, and
fasted for ten days, and at the end of that time he turned
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his face to the wall, and fasted for twenty days longer.
At length the witch called to him, and said:

‘Come and eat something, my grandson.’ At the
sound of her voice the boy got up and ate the food she
gave him. When he had finished every scrap she spoke as
before: ‘Tell me, my grandson, have not the good spirits
visited you all these many days that you have fasted?’

‘Not all, grandmother,’ answered he; ‘there are still
some who keep away from me and say that I have not
fasted long enough.’

‘Then you must fast again,’ replied the old woman,
‘and go on fasting till you receive the gifts of all the good
spirits. Not one must be missing.’

The boy said nothing, but lay down for the third time
on the buffalo skins, and fasted for twenty days more.
And at the end of that time the witch thought he was
dead, his face was so white and his body so still. But
when she had fed him out of the bowl he grew stronger,
and soon was able to sit up.

‘You have fasted a long time,’ said she, ‘longer than
anyone ever fasted before. Surely the good spirits must
be satisfied now?’

‘Yes, grandmother,’ answered the boy, ‘they have all
come, and have given me their gifts.’

This pleased the old woman so much that she brought
him another basin of food, and while he was eating it
she talked to him, and this is what she said: ‘Far away,
on the other side of the great river, is the home of the
Bad One. In his house is much gold, and what is more
precious even than the gold, a little bridge, which
lengthens out when the Bad One waves his hand, so that
there is no river or sea that he cannot cross. Now I want
that bridge and some of the gold for myself, and that is
the reason that I have stolen so many boys by means of my
ball. I have tried to teach them how to gain the gifts of
the good spirits, but none of them would fast long enough,
and at last I had to send them away to perform simple,
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easy little tasks. But you have been strong and faithful,
and you can do this thing if you listen to what I tell
you! When you reach the river tie this ball to your
foot, and it will take you across—you cannot manage it
in any other way. But do not be afraid; trust to the
ball, and you will be quite safe!’

The boy took the ball and put it in a bag. Then he
made himself a club and a bow, and some arrows which
would fly further than anyone else’s arrows, because of
the strength the good spirits had given him. They had
also bestowed on him the power of changing his shape,
and had increased the quickness of his eyes and ears so
that nothing escaped him. And in some way or other
they made him understand that if he needed more help
they would give it to him.

When all these things were ready the boy bade farewell
to the witch and set out. He walked through the
forest for several days without seeing anyone but his
friends the squirrels and the bears and the birds, but
though he stopped and spoke to them all, he was careful
not to let them know where he was going.

At last, after many days, he came to the river, and
beyond it he noticed a small hut standing on a hill which
he guessed to be the home of the Bad One. But the
stream flowed so quickly that he could not see how he was
ever to cross it, and in order to test how swift the current
really was, he broke a branch from a tree and threw it in.
It seemed hardly to touch the water before it was carried
away, and even his magic sight could not follow it. He
could not help feeling frightened, but he hated giving up
anything that he had once undertaken, and, fastening the
ball on his right foot, he ventured on the river. To his
surprise he was able to stand up; then a panic seized
him, and he scrambled up the bank again. In a minute
or two he plucked up courage to go a little further into
the river, but again its width frightened him, and a second
time he turned back. However, he felt rather ashamed
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of his cowardice, as it was quite clear that his ball could
support him, and on his third trial he got safely to the
other side.

Once there he replaced the ball in the bag, and looked
carefully round him. The door of the Bad One’s hut was
open, and he saw that the ceiling was supported by great
wooden beams, from which hung the bags of gold and the
little bridge. He saw, too, the Bad One sitting in the
midst of his treasures eating his dinner, and drinking
something out of a horn. It was plain to the boy that he
must invent some plan of getting the Bad One out of the
way, or else he would never be able to steal the gold or
the bridge.

What should he do? Give horrible shrieks as if he
were in pain? But the Bad One would not care whether
he were murdered or not! Call him by his name? But
the Bad One was very cunning, and would suspect some
trick. He must try something better than that! Then
suddenly an idea came to him, and he gave a little jump
of joy. ‘Oh, how stupid of me not to think of that before!’
said he, and he wished with all his might that the Bad
One should become very hungry—so hungry that he could
not wait a moment for fresh food to be brought to him.
And sure enough at that instant the Bad One called out
to his servant, ‘You did not bring food that would satisfy
a sparrow. Fetch some more at once, for I am perfectly
starving.’ Then, without giving the woman time to go to
the larder, he got up from his chair, and rolled, staggering
from hunger, towards the kitchen.

Directly the door had closed on the Bad One the boy
ran in, pulled down a bag of gold from the beam, and
tucked it under his left arm. Next he unhooked the
little bridge and put it under his right. He did not try
to escape, as most boys of his age would have done, for
the wisdom put into his mind by the good spirits taught
him that before he could reach the river and make use of
the bridge the Bad One would have tracked him by his
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footsteps and been upon him. So, making himself very
small and thin, he hid himself behind a pile of buffalo
skins in the corner, first tearing a slit through one of
them, so that he could see what was going on.

He had hardly settled himself when the servant entered
the room, and, as she did so, the last bag of gold on the beam
fell to the ground—for they had begun to fall directly the
boy had taken the first one. She cried to her master that
someone had stolen both the bag and the bridge, and the
Bad One rushed in, mad with anger, and bade her go and
seek for footsteps outside, that they might find out where
the thief had gone. In a few minutes she returned,
saying that he must be in the house, as she could not
see any footsteps leading to the river, and began to move
all the furniture in the room, without discovering Ball-Carrier.

‘But he must be here somewhere,’ she said to herself,
examining for the second time the pile of buffalo skins; and
Ball-Carrier, knowing that he could not possibly escape
now, hastily wished that the Bad One should be unable
to eat any more food at present.

‘Ah, there is a slit in this one,’ cried the servant,
shaking the skin; ‘and here he is.’ And she pulled out
Ball-Carrier, looking so lean and small that he would
hardly have made a mouthful for a sparrow.

‘Was it you who took my gold and bridge?’ asked the
Bad One.

‘Yes,’ answered Ball-Carrier, ‘it was I who took
them.’

The Bad One made a sign to the woman, who inquired
where he had hidden them. He lifted his left arm where
the gold was, and she picked up a knife and scraped his
skin so that no gold should be left sticking to it.

‘What have you done with the bridge?’ said she. And
he lifted his right arm, from which she took the bridge,
while the Bad One looked on, well pleased. ‘Be sure
that he does not run away,’ chuckled he. ‘Boil some

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water, and get him ready for cooking, while I go and
invite my friends the water-demons to the feast.’

The woman seized Ball-Carrier between her finger
and thumb, and was going to carry him to the kitchen,
when the boy spoke:

‘I am very lean and small now,’ he said, ‘hardly worth
the trouble of cooking; but if you were to keep me two
days, and gave me plenty of food, I should get big and
fat. As it is, your friends the water-demons would think
you meant to laugh at them, when they found that I was
the feast.’

‘Well, perhaps you are right,’ answered the Bad One;
‘I will keep you for two days.’ And he went out to visit
the water-demons.

Meanwhile the servant, whose name was Lung-Woman,
led him into a little shed, and chained him up to
a ring in the wall. But food was given him every hour,
and at the end of two days he was as fat and big as a
Christmas turkey, and could hardly move his head from
one side to the other.

‘He will do now,’ said the Bad One, who came constantly
to see how he was getting on. ‘I shall go and
tell the water-demons that we expect them to dinner
to-night. Put the kettle on the fire, but be sure on no
account to taste the broth.’

Lung-Woman lost no time in obeying her orders.
She built up the fire, which had got very low, filled the
kettle with water, and passing a rope which hung from
the ceiling through the handle, swung it over the flames.
Then she brought in Ball-Carrier, who, seeing all these preparations,
wished that as long as he was in the kettle the
water might not really boil, though it would hiss and
bubble, and also, that the spirits would turn the water
into fat.

The kettle soon began to sing and bubble, and Ball-Carrier
was lifted in. Very soon the fat which was to
make the sauce rose to the surface, and Ball-Carrier, who
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was bobbing about from one side to the other, called out
that Lung-Woman had better taste the broth, as he thought
that some salt should be added to it. The servant knew
quite well that her master had forbidden her to do anything
of the kind, but when once the idea was put into
her head, she found the smell from the kettle so delicious
that she unhooked a long ladle from the wall and plunged
it into the kettle.

‘You will spill it all, if you stand so far off,’ said the
boy; ‘why don’t you come a little nearer?’ And as she
did so he cried to the spirits to give him back his usual
size and strength and to make the water scalding hot.
Then he gave the kettle a kick, which upset all the boiling
water upon her, and jumping over her body he seized
once more the gold and the bridge, picked up his club
and bow and arrows, and after setting fire to the Bad
One’s hut, ran down to the river, which he crossed safely
by the help of the bridge.

The hut, which was made of wood, was burned to the
ground before the Bad One came back with a large crowd
of water-demons. There was not a sign of anyone or
anything, so he started for the river, where he saw Ball-Carrier
sitting quietly on the other side. Then the Bad
One knew what had happened, and after telling the water-demons
that there would be no feast after all, he called
to Ball-Carrier, who was eating an apple.

‘I know your name now,’ he said, ‘and as you have
ruined me, and I am not rich any more, will you take me
as your servant?’

‘Yes, I will, though you have tried to kill me,’ answered
Ball-Carrier, throwing the bridge across the water as he
spoke. But when the Bad One was in the midst of the
stream, the boy wished it to become small; and the Bad
One fell into the water and was drowned, and the world
was rid of him.

[U.S. Bureau of Ethnology.]

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