“Slip into this sack, old woman. I’ll carry you up.”
The old woman thought a bit, and then got into the sack. The old man took the sack in his teeth, and began climbing up to heaven. He climbed and climbed, long did he climb. The old woman got tired of waiting and asked:
“Is it much farther, old man?”
“We’ve half the way to go still.”
Again he climbed and climbed, climbed and climbed. A second time the old woman asked:
“Is it much farther, old man?”
The old man was just beginning to say: “Not much farther—” when the sack slipped from between his teeth, and the old woman fell to the ground and was smashed all to pieces. The old man slid down the cabbage-stalk and picked up the sack. But it had nothing in it but bones, and those broken very small. The old man went out of his house and wept bitterly.
Presently a fox met him.
“What are you crying about, old man?”
“How can I help crying? My old woman is smashed to pieces.”