Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 09 (7 page)

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
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 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 was bobbing about from one
side to the other, called out that Lung-Woman had better taste
the broth, as he though that some salt should be added to it.
The servant knew quite well that her master had forbidden her to
do any thing 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 a,pple.

'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.)

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 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 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 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.