Holes: Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

The next morning, Stanley eats his lukewarm cereal, fills his canteen, and chooses a shovel before the sun comes up. He tries to dig the point of the blade into the ground, but it's baked hard. Stanley helplessly watches Zero, who already has a large pile of dirt next to his hole. Mr. Pendanski had told Stanley to report anything "interesting or unusual" to him, as interesting finds earn campers a day off—though he insisted that they're not actually looking for anything. Stanley wedges his shovel in a crack and finds that being overweight is helpful, as he can more easily sink his shovel in the ground. He marks the perimeter of his hole, and soon blisters form on his fingers.

The narrator jumps back in time to tell the story of Elya Yelnats. He was born in Latvia and at age fifteen, fell in love with fourteen-year-old Myra Menke. Myra's father decided that when Myra turned fifteen, she should be married. Both Elya and 57-year-old pig farmer Igor Barkov went to ask for Myra's hand. Myra's father insisted he'd rather have one of Igor's pigs than Elya's "heart full of love," so Elya went to see Madame Zeroni, an old Egyptian woman with only one foot.

Elya told Madame Zeroni about his plight, but she was unsympathetic. She insisted that Elya was too young to marry and that Myra was silly, foolish, and spoiled. She encouraged Elya to go to America like her own son did, but Elya remained unmoved. Finally, Madame Zeroni led him to her pigsty, where her sow had just given birth to piglets. She handed him the runt and instructed him to carry the piglet up the nearby mountain every day to drink from the stream. She said he also had to sing the piglet a special song.

Madame Zeroni said that Elya should carry the pig up the mountain for the last time on Myra's fifteenth birthday, at which point it would be fatter than Igor's pig. She assured Elya that as the pig grew, he'd grow strong enough to carry it. Finally, she asked that he carry her up the mountain and sing to her on the last day. She explained that she'd curse his descendants forever if he didn't do this. Elya thought nothing of it, though he did think he'd be happy to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain right then if only he were strong enough.

Stanley's hole grows to about three feet deep as the sun peeks over the horizon. His hands are covered in blisters, and Stanley can tell that everyone else's holes are far bigger. When he notices a moving cloud of dust following a red pickup truck, he lines up with the other boys to get water. X-Ray is first, while Stanley is last in line behind Zero. Mr. Sir fills their canteens and then follows Stanley to check his progress. As he encourages Stanley to hurry up, he spits sunflower shells into Stanley's hole.

Elya did as he was told and as the pig grew big and strong, so did he. The pig was massive by Myra's birthday, so instead of carrying it up the mountain one last time as Madame Zeroni had told him to, Elya took a bath. Then, he presented his pig to Myra's father. Elya boldly asked to marry Myra, but her father insisted on weighing Elya and Igor's pigs. They weighed exactly the same.

As Stanley digs, his blisters rip open and new ones form. He tries to use his cap to cushion his hands, but the sun is hot on his neck. Stanley realizes he'll need to move his dirt piles—he's going to run out of room.

Myra's father examined the pigs, declared them fine pigs, and couldn't decide whose pig to accept. When Elya suggested that Myra choose, both Igor and Myra's father were shocked, but Myra's father agreed on the grounds that he didn't care whom she married. He called Myra, explained the situation, and asked her to decide. She was extremely confused and couldn't decide, so she secretly chose a number and asked her suitors to choose a number between one and ten. Disgusted, Elya told Myra to keep his pig as a wedding present and marry Igor.

At lunchtime, Mr. Pendanski drives the water truck out with sack lunches. While the boys eat, Magnet assures Stanley that the first hole is the hardest. Stanley wonders what they'd do to him if he just quit.

Elya wandered aimlessly until he ended up on a pier. He was heartbroken; he thought that Myra loved him. Madame Zeroni was right. Elya read a sign asking for deck hands on a ship to America, and the captain signed Elya up even though he didn't have any sailing experience. Elya didn't realize until the ship was in the open water that he'd broken his promise to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain. He wasn't afraid of the curse, but he did feel bad for breaking a promise to a friend.

Even though Zero is the smallest boy in Group D, he finishes digging first. In awe, Stanley watches Zero measure his hole, spit in it, and head back to camp. Zigzag declares Zero a "weird dude," but Stanley thinks that Zigzag is objectively weirder: his neck is long and skinny, and he has wild, frizzy blond hair. One by one, the other boys of Group D finish and head back to camp. After a while, Stanley realizes he'll need to move his dirt piles again. He feels as though he's digging his grave.

In America, Elya fell in love with a woman named Sarah Miller. She was smart and strong, and she and Elya loved each other very much. However, bad luck seemed to follow Elya. He remembered that Madame Zeroni mentioned having a son in America, so he began approaching people asking if they knew anyone named Zeroni. Finally, after Elya's barn was struck by lightning for the third time, he told Sarah about the curse. She was unconcerned but asked Elya to sing her the "pig lullaby." She loved it and a year later, when the first Stanley Yelnats was born, Sarah made the song rhyme in English and sang it to her baby.

Stanley discovers that his hole is very close to big enough. He digs out a few more shovelfuls and finally, he can lay his shovel flat on the bottom. He feels a strange sense of pride and can't wait to show whomever is in the approaching water truck his hole. Stanley has to dig himself steps to climb out and discovers Mr. Pendanski, out to check on him. Mr. Pendanski asks for a high-five, but Stanley doesn't have the energy. Mr. Pendanski praises Stanley and offers him a ride back, though Stanley insists he'll walk. He spits in his hole before he starts for camp.