‘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:
‘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.