A man and his wife had been travelling for two long and difficult weeks. They had walked along the edge of deserts, through lush jungle land and across wide empty plains. Each night, they had slept under the stars and each day the wife had complained endlessly about the journey.
The man ignored her shrill voice and boring protests, his mind fixed only on getting back to the village where he had been born.
After a long day of walking, the two came to the edge of a wide ravine. The man had no idea how they were going to get across. The bottom of the ravine was hundreds of metres below them, and it would take days to find an alternative route around this vast gash in the land.
'And now what do we do?' the woman asked spitefully. 'We turn round and we go home, that's what we do. There's no way we can get to the other side - unless we fly, of course!' The woman laughed, very pleased with herself.
The man didn't know what to do. He suddenly let out a short yelp, and turned around quickly. Something or someone had tapped him on the shoulder. His eyes opened wide in disbelief as he saw a human skeleton standing right behind him.
The skull opened its mouth. 'Don't be afraid. I'm not going to harm you. I need you and you need me. I, too, want to get to the other side of this ravine. I can fly across, but only if a human, dead or alive, comes with me. I will carry you both across, and then leave you. Is it a deal?'