e tired!' So the boy
sat down, and ate some food which she gave him in a bowl. It was quite
different from anything he had tasted before, and he thought it was
delicious. When he had eaten up every bit, the witch asked him if he had
ever fasted.

'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 the boy
got up and ate the food she gave him. When he had finished every scrap
she spoke as before: 'Tell me, my grandson, have not the good spirits
visited you all these many days that you have fasted?'

'Not all, grandmother,' answered he; 'there are still some who keep away
from me and say that I have not fasted long enough.'

'Then you must fast again,' replied the old woman, 'and go on fasting
till you receive the gifts of all the good spirits. Not one must be
missing.'

The boy said nothing, but lay down for the third time on the buffalo
skins, and fasted for twenty days more. And at the end of that time the
witch thought he was dead, his face was so white and his body so still.
But when she had fed him out of the bowl he grew stronger, and soon was
able to sit up.

'You have fasted a long time,' said she, 'longer than anyone ever fasted
before. Surely the good spirits must be satisfied now?'

'Yes, grandmother,' answered the boy, 'they have all come, and have
given me their gifts.'

This pleased the old woman so much that she brou