What happened to Stanley's no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather that got him cursed?

Answer 1

In the novelization "Holes", Elya Yelnats, the Latvian great great grandfather of Stanley Yelnats IV, fell in love with Myra Menke at the age of fifteen. He asks her father for her hand in marriage since he wanted his daughter to be married once she herself had become fifteen. Her father wanted a fat pig in exchange. Stanley goes to Madame Zeroni for advice, which she gladly gives. She instructs him to take one of her pigs, the smallest of the herd, and carry it to the top of a mountain everyday. On top of this mountain there is a stream. The pig must drink from this stream and as it does so, Elya must sing the following song:

"If only, if only," the woodpecker sighed,

"The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies.

The wolf waits below, hungry and lonely

And cries to the moon "If only, if only."

Each day as he does this, both he and the pig will grow in size, the pig growing fatter and Elya stronger. However, once he is finished with the pig, young Elya Yelnats must then carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain and sing to her as she drinks from the stream.

The last day that he had to carry the pig up the mountain just so happened to be Myra Menke's fifteenth birthday. Elya being as excited as he was forgot to carry the pig for the last time, so when he brought it to Myra's father it weighed the exact same amount as the pig Igor, another suitor, had brought to her father. The father, being unable to decide, left the decision to his daughter. This excited Elya once more. He was sure that she would choose him over the middle-aged obese man that was Igor. The girl said "I'll marry whoever guesses the closest number to mine between one and ten." Igor said ten... Elya said nothing. He knew Myra did not love him.

Enraged and brokenhearted, Elya Yelnats left the country for America, forgetting all about carrying Madame Zeroni up the mountain, thus leaving him and all of his descendants cursed for all of eternity.

Answer 2

Because even though he promised Madame Zeroni, that he would carry her up the mountain, and sing a lullaby to her while she drank from this magical stream, he left for America and completely forgot. So she put a curse on him and all his descendants!

Answer 3

He was robbed