Chapter 7

Names: Emma Keevy, Emily Smith, Sarah Labuschagne

Stanley is digging his first hole, and he is struggling to break the crust that the heat of the sun has created. He was told to report any interesting finds. Stanley’s hole is about three feet deep in the middle, but it sloped upwards at the edges. He had many blisters on his hands. The water truck came so the boys could fill up their canteens. Stanley’s blisters got worse and he eventually took off his cap and held it between the shovel and his hands as he dug. He had to move the piles of dirt he had dug up. The water truck came again and this time they also got packed lunches. Stanley considered quitting, but mustered the will-power to carry on. Zero finished his perfectly dug hole by spitting into it, and one by one, so did everyone else until it was just Stanley left.Stanley had finally finished his hole and felt proud of his first hole and refused the ride home when Mr Pendanski had offered.

We learn that Stanley’s great-great-grandfather’s name was Elya Yelnats and when he was 15 he fell in love with a girl named Myra Menke. Elya desperately wanted to marry Myra, but was turned away by her father because he had nothing of value. He went to see Madame Zeroni and begged for her help. At first she refused to help as she felt Elya was wasting his time on a flowerpot like Myra. She told him that his future was in America, much like her son’s had. Eventually she agreed to help, she gave him the runt of her sow's litter and told him to carry the piglet to the top of the mountain, let it drink from the stream and sing to it as it drinks, daily until Myra’s birthday. He also promised to take Madame Zeroni up the hill on the last day and sing her the song while she drinks from the stream. On Myra’s Fifteenth birthday the pig weighed more than 50 stones, but he decided not to carry the pig up the mountain that day, as he didn’t want to go to Myra smelling like pig, so he took a bath instead. Eyla’s and Igor’s pigs were both the same size and the finest Myra’s father had ever seen and he couldn’t pick who his daughter should marry and Elya suggested that they let Myra pick. After much discussion he eventually let his daughter decide her own fate, even though the thought was preposterous. Myra couldn’t decide and Elya finally saw that she was an empty-headed flowerpot and left. Elya got on a boat to America, but by the time he'd realised he'd forgotten his promise to madame Zerroni, it was too late. In America Elya fell in love with Sarah Miller who was no flowerpot. Eyla started to notice that bad luck followed him everywhere. He told Sarah about the curse who stayed loyal, and asked Elya to sing her the song.