'No,' replied the boy, 'at least I have been obliged to
sometimes, but never if there was any food to be had.'

'You will have to fast if you want the spirits to make you strong
and wise, and the sooner you begin the better.'

'Very well,' said the boy, 'what do I do first?'

'Lie down on those buffalo skins by the door of the hut,'
answered she; and the boy lay down, and the squirrels and little
bears and the birds came and talked to him.

At the end of ten days the old woman came to him with a bowl of
the same food that he had eaten before.

'Get up, my grandson, you have fasted long enough. Have the good
spirits visited you, and granted you the strength and wisdom that
you desire?'

'Some of them have come, and have given me a portion of both,'
answered the boy, 'but many have stayed away from me.'

'Then,' said she, 'you must fast ten days more.'

So the boy lay down again on the buffalo skins, and fasted for
ten days, and at the end of that time he turned his face to the
wall, and fasted for twenty days longer. At length the witch
called to him, and said:

'Come and eat something, my grandson.' At the sound of her voice