Page:The art of story-telling, with nearly half a hundred stories, y Julia Darrow Cowles .. (IA artofstorytellin00cowl).pdf/175

 him if the strong spirit had come to him in his dreams. The boy shook his head. No dreams had come to him.

Each day for ten days the father came to the little lodge in the wilderness and asked his son if the strong Manitou had come to him.

"It is not for me to have such dreams, my father, I am not brave. The strong Manitou will not come to me. Let me give up my fast."

"If you give up now, the Manitou will never come. Hunger makes my son weak, but his heart is strong. It is only a short time more to wait. Then my son shall be the strongest of all."

The Indian boy covered his face and lay still upon the mat. He would obey his father.

On the morning of the eleventh day the boy saw his father enter the wigwam. He slowly turned his face toward him and whispered: "Let me break my fast; I have no dreams."

"Tomorrow I will bring you food. Tomorrow you shall come to the lodge of your father."