The Devil's Magic Eggs

This tale has been adapted from the original for readability:

There were once two wives married to the same man. When one of them died, her child was left in the care of the other wife. But the woman hated the child, worked her hard, and beat her even after the chores were done. Her own child did nothing and was never punished. In time, both children caught yaws. The woman treated her own child gently, but scrubbed the other with such force and spite that the sores cleared quickly. She grew tired of the orphan and decided to get rid of her.

One day, the girl was near the kitchen when she dropped the rice-stirring stick. The woman slapped her, swore at her, and said, “Don’t call me Mammy. Your mother died because she was a witch, and I didn’t send her there for nothing.” Then she ordered the girl to go and wash the stick in the Devil’s place, far away, a journey that would take an adult a day to reach, and longer still for a child. So the girl set out with the stick in her hands.

On the road she met a bundle of hoe handles that spoke like people. They asked where she was going, and she told them. A little later she met a man with a single eye in the middle of his forehead. He asked the same question, and she answered. The one-eyed man showed her the way, and at last she reached the Devil’s home.

The Devil called her over and told her to pick lice from him. He had many eyes, so he could see any trick, but the girl did nothing sly or cruel. She simply did what she was asked. Pleased with her, the Devil washed the stick clean, wrapped it carefully, and gave it back. Then he told her to go round the corner and take four eggs.

There were large eggs there, but the girl chose four small ones. The Devil nodded, and told her what to do. “Walk a little way and break one egg,” he said. “Walk further and break the next, then the third. Break the last one where you would like your house to be.”

So she went on her way. When she broke the first egg, servants appeared to carry her, and fine things came with them. When she broke the second, soldiers and officers appeared to guard her. When she broke the third, treasures poured out, gold and silver and precious stones, and more servants to bear them along. And when she reached the part of town where she wanted to live, she broke the last egg, and a great house rose up at once, with high walls and animals in the yard. Music began to play, as if the place had been waiting for her.

Before she left, the Devil had also told her something strange. If she wanted her mother to return, she must cook rice, then take the mortar and pestle to her mother’s grave and pound on the earth while she sang. So the girl did exactly as she was told. At the grave she began to pound and to sing for her mother to come back to the world, saying she was weary of the cruel woman who had taken her place.

As she sang, the grave began to crack. It opened little by little, and her mother’s head appeared, then her hands. The girl longed to pull her out, but she remembered the warning: if she tugged, her mother would be cut in two and would never rise. So she kept singing and pounding, steady and patient, until her mother came out whole at last. Then the girl held her and took her home.

Before she settled into her new life, she sent the cleaned stick back to the woman who had sent her away. When the woman saw the fine things the girl now had, she grew greedy. She threw the stick down on purpose and ordered her own child to go to the Devil’s place and wash it too.

But her child had not been raised to be respectful. On the road she met the talking hoe handles and the one-eyed man, and she spoke rudely to them both. When she reached the Devil, he told her to pick lice, and she made as if she would hit him. The Devil said nothing. He washed the stick without care, gave it back without wrapping it, and told her to take four eggs.

This time the girl grabbed the biggest eggs she could carry. The Devil told her when to break them, just as he had told the first girl. She walked a little way and broke one. At once bees swarmed out and stung her until she could hardly stand. She went on and broke the second, and snakes spilled out and wrapped themselves around her arms, legs, and neck. She struggled free and stumbled forward, then broke the third, and big men appeared with whips and beat her until they were tired. At last, bruised and swollen, she limped towards home. When she reached her mother’s house, she broke the last egg. Fire burst out, burning the house, burning her mother, and burning her too.

And that is why people say you must not be cruel to a child who has no mother or father to protect them.