HOW BALL-CARRIER FINISHED HIS TASK

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.

Browse more fantasy stories.

After Ball-Carrier had managed to drown the Bad One
so that he could not do any more mischief, he forgot the
way to his grandmother’s house, and could not find it
again, though he searched everywhere. During this time
he wandered into many strange places, and had many
adventures; and one day he came to a hut where a young
girl lived. He was tired and hungry and begged her to
let him in and rest, and he stayed a long while, and the
girl became his wife. One morning he saw two children
playing in front of the hut, and went out to speak to
them. But as soon as they saw him they set up cries
of horror and ran away. ‘They are the children of my
sister who has been on a long journey,’ replied his wife,
‘and now that she knows you are my husband she wants
to kill you.’

‘Oh, well, let her try,’ replied Ball-Carrier. ‘It is
not the first time people have wished to do that. And
here I am still, you see!’

‘Be careful,’ said the wife, ‘she is very cunning.’ But
at this moment the sister-in-law came up.

‘How do you do, brother-in-law? I have heard of
you so often that I am very glad to meet you. I am told
that you are more powerful than any man on earth, and
as I am powerful too, let us try which is the strongest.’

‘That will be delightful,’ answered he. ‘Suppose we
begin with a short race, and then we will go on to other
things.’

‘That will suit me very well,’ replied the woman, who
[Pg 60]
was a witch. ‘And let us agree that the one who wins
shall have the right to kill the other.’

‘Oh, certainly,’ said Ball-Carrier; ‘and I don’t think
we shall find a flatter course than the prairie itself—no
one knows how many miles it stretches. We will run to
the end and back again.’

This being settled they both made ready for the race,
and Ball-Carrier silently begged the good spirits to help
him, and not to let him fall into the hands of this wicked
witch.

‘When the sun touches the trunk of that tree we will
start,’ said she, as they both stood side by side. But
with the first step Ball-Carrier changed himself into a
wolf and for a long way kept ahead. Then gradually he
heard her creeping up behind him, and soon she was in
front. So Ball-Carrier took the shape of a pigeon and
flew rapidly past her, but in a little while she was in
front again, and the end of the prairie was in sight. ‘A
crow can fly faster than a pigeon,’ thought he, and as a
crow he managed to pass her and held his ground so long
that he fancied she was quite beaten. The witch began
to be afraid of it too, and putting out all her strength
slipped past him. Next he put on the shape of a hawk,
and in this form he reached the bounds of the prairie, he
and the witch turning homewards at the moment.

Bird after bird he tried, but every time the witch
gained on him and took the lead. At length the goal
was in sight, and Ball-Carrier knew that unless he could
get ahead now he would be killed before his own door,
under the eyes of his wife. His eyes had grown dim
from fatigue, his wings flapped wearily and hardly bore
him along, while the witch seemed as fresh as ever.
What bird was there whose flight was swifter than his?
Would not the good spirits tell him? Ah, of course he
knew; why had he not thought of it at first and spared
himself all that fatigue? And the next instant a humming
bird, dressed in green and blue, flashed past the woman

[Pg 63]
and entered the house. The witch came panting up,
furious at having lost the race which she felt certain of
winning; and Ball-Carrier, who had by this time changed
back into his own shape, struck her on the head and
killed her.

For a long while Ball-Carrier was content to stay
quietly at home with his wife and children, for he was
tired of adventures, and only did enough hunting to
supply the house with food. But one day he happened
to eat some poisonous berries that he had found in the
forest, and grew so ill that he felt he was going to
die.

‘When I am dead do not bury me in the earth,’ he
said, ‘but put me over there, among that clump of trees.’
So his wife and her three children watched by him as
long as he was alive, and after he was dead they took
him up and laid the body on a platform of stakes which
they had prepared in the grove. And as they returned
weeping to the hut they caught a glimpse of the ball
rolling away down the path back to the old grandmother.
One of the sons sprang forward to stop it, for Ball-Carrier
had often told them the tale of how it had helped him to
cross the river, but it was too quick for him, and they
had to content themselves with the war club and bow and
arrows, which were put carefully away.

By-and-by some travellers came past, and the chief
among them asked leave to marry Ball-Carrier’s daughter.
The mother said she must have a little time to think over
it, as her daughter was still very young; so it was settled
that the man should go away for a month with his friends,
and then come back to see if the girl was willing.

Now ever since Ball-Carrier’s death the family had
been very poor, and often could not get enough to eat.
One morning the girl, who had had no supper and no
breakfast, wandered off to look for cranberries, and
though she was quite near home was astonished at
noticing a large hut, which certainly had not been there
[Pg 64]
when last she had come that way. No one was about, so
she ventured to peep in, and her surprise was increased at
seeing, heaped up in one corner, a quantity of food of all
sorts, while a little robin redbreast stood perched on a
beam looking down upon her.

‘It is my father, I am sure,’ she cried; and the bird
piped in answer.

From that day, whenever they wanted food they went
to the hut, and though the robin could not speak, he
would hop on their shoulders and let them feed him with
the food they knew he liked best.

When the man came back he found the girl looking
so much prettier and fatter than when he had left her,
that he insisted that they should be married on the spot.
And the mother, who did not know how to get rid of him,
gave in.

The husband spent all his time in hunting, and the
family had never had so much meat before; but the man,
who had seen for himself how poor they were, noticed
with amazement that they did not seem to care about it,
or to be hungry. ‘They must get food from somewhere,’
he thought, and one morning, when he pretended to be
going out to hunt, he hid in a thicket to watch. Very
soon they all left the house together, and walked to the
other hut, which the girl’s husband saw for the first time,
as it was hid in a hollow. He followed, and noticed that
each one went up to the redbreast, and shook him by the
claw; and he then entered boldly and shook the bird’s
claw too. The whole party afterwards sat down to dinner,
after which they all returned to their own hut.

The next day the husband declared that he was very ill,
and could not eat anything; but this was only a pretence
so that he might get what he wanted. The family were
all much distressed, and begged him to tell them what
food he fancied.

‘Oh! I could not eat any food,’ he answered every
time, and at each answer his voice grew fainter and

[Pg 67]
fainter, till they thought he would die from weakness
before their eyes.

‘There must be some thing you could take, if you
would only say what it is,’ implored his wife.

‘No, nothing, nothing; except, perhaps—but of course
that is impossible!’

‘No, I am sure it is not,’ replied she; ‘you shall have
it, I promise—only tell me what it is.’

‘I think—but I could not ask you to do such a thing.
Leave me alone, and let me die quietly.’

‘You shall not die,’ cried the girl, who was very fond
of her husband, for he did not beat her as most girls’
husbands did. ‘Whatever it is, I will manage to get it
for you.’

‘Well, then, I think, if I had that—redbreast, nicely
roasted, I could eat a little bit of his wing!’

The wife started back in horror at such a request; but
the man turned his face to the wall, and took no notice,
as he thought it was better to leave her to herself for a
little.

Weeping and wringing her hands, the girl went down
to her mother. The brothers were very angry when they
heard the story, and declared that, if any one were to die,
it certainly should not be the robin. But all that night
the man seemed getting weaker and weaker, and at last,
quite early, the wife crept out, and stealing to the hut,
killed the bird, and brought him home to her husband.

Just as she was going to cook it her two brothers came
in. They cried out in horror at the sight, and, rushing out
of the hut, declared they would never see her any more.
And the poor girl, with a heavy heart, took the body of the
redbreast up to her husband.

But directly she entered the room the man told her
that he felt a great deal better, and that he would rather
have a piece of bear’s flesh, well boiled, than any bird,
however tender. His wife felt very miserable to think
[Pg 68]
that their beloved redbreast had been sacrificed for
nothing, and begged him to try a little bit.

‘You felt so sure that it would do you good before,’
said she, ‘that I can’t help thinking it would quite cure
you now.’ But the man only flew into a rage, and
flung the bird out of the window. Then he got up and
went out.

Now all this while the ball had been rolling, rolling,
rolling to the old grandmother’s hut on the other side of the
world, and directly it rolled into her hut she knew that
her grandson must be dead. Without wasting any time
she took a fox skin and tied it round her forehead, and
fastened another round her waist, as witches always do
when they leave their own homes. When she was ready
she said to the ball: ‘Go back the way you came, and
lead me to my grandson.’ And the ball started with the
old woman following.

It was a long journey, even for a witch, but, like other
things, it ended at last; and the old woman stood before
the platform of stakes, where the body of Ball-Carrier lay.

‘Wake up, my grandson, it is time to go home,’ the
witch said. And Ball-Carrier stepped down off the platform,
and brought his club and bow and arrows out of the
hut, and set out, for the other side of the world, behind the
old woman.

When they reached the hut where Ball-Carrier had
fasted so many years ago, the old woman spoke for the
first time since they had started on their way.

‘My grandson, did you ever manage to get that gold
from the Bad One?’

‘Yes, grandmother, I got it.’

‘Where is it?’ she asked.

‘Here, in my left arm-pit,’ answered he.

So she picked up a knife and scraped away all the
gold which had stuck to his skin, and which had been
sticking there ever since he first stole it. After she had
finished she asked again:

[Pg 69]
‘My grandson, did you manage to get that bridge from
the Bad One?’

‘Yes, grandmother, I got that too,’ answered he.

‘Where is it?’ she asked, and Ball-Carrier lifted his
right arm, and pointed to his arm-pit.

‘Here is the bridge, grandmother,’ said he.

Then the witch did something that nobody in the
world could have guessed that she would do. First, she
took the gold and said to Ball-Carrier:

‘My grandson, this gold must be hidden in the earth,
for if people think they can get it when they choose, they
will become lazy and stupid. But if we take it and bury
it in different parts of the world they will have to work
for it if they want it, and then will only find a little at a
time.’ And as she spoke, she pulled up one of the poles
of the hut, and Ball-Carrier saw that underneath was a
deep, deep hole, which seemed to have no bottom. Down
this hole she poured all the gold, and when it was out of
sight it ran about all over the world, where people that
dig hard sometimes find it. And after that was done she
put the pole back again.

Next she lifted down a spade from a high shelf, where
it had grown quite rusty, and dug a very small hole on
the opposite side of the hut—very small, but very deep.

‘Give me the bridge,’ said she, ‘for I am going to bury
it here. If anyone was to get hold of it, and find that
they could cross rivers and seas without any trouble, they
would never discover how to cross them for themselves.
I am a witch, and if I had chosen I could easily have
cast my spells over the Bad One, and have made him
deliver them to you the first day you came into my
hut. But then you would never have fasted, and never
have planned how to get what you wanted, and never have
known the good spirits, and would have been fat and idle
to the end of your days. And now go; in that hut, which
you can just see far away, live your father and mother, who
[Pg 70]
are old people now, and need a son to hunt for them. You
have done what you were set to do, and I need you no
more.’

Then Ball-Carrier remembered his parents and went
back to them.

[From Bureau of Ethnology. ‘Indian Folklore.’]

[Pg 71]