PUBERTY FASTING AMONG THE OJTBWA. 
71 
were many bad spirits around and they would doubtless try to 
deceive me and thus cause misfortunes. The first four nights, 
I slept soundly and dreamt of nothing whatsoever. The fifth 
night, however, I dreamt that a very large and beautiful bird 
came to me and promised me many great things. I had, how- 
ever, made up my mind not to accept the blessing of the first 
spirit that appeared, so I refused all that had been offered, and as 
I watched the bird disappear, I saw that it turned into a chick- 
adee. In the morning, when my grandmother came to ask me 
whether anyone had blessed me, I told her that a chickadee had 
offered me many gifts, but that I had rejected them. Then she 
told me that the chickadee often fooled people in this manner. 
For a few nights after that I again did not dream of anything, 
but during the eighth night another big bird came to me. I 
was getting tired of staying in the little wigwam so long, so I 
decided to accept whatever he would offer. I dreamt that this 
big bird took me along with him to the north, where there was 
only ice. There I saw many more birds just like him, some of 
them very old. These birds offered me long life and freedom 
from sickness. Indeed it was quite different from what the 
chickadee had promised. I accepted all that they gave me and 
then the bird that had brought me there took me to my wigwam 
again. When he left he told me to watch him before he got out 
of sight, and as I did, I noticed that it was a white loon. In 
the morning, when my grandmother came to question me about 
my dreams, I told her of my experience with the white loons. 
She was very glad to hear about it, for they had rarely been 
blessed by white loons. From that time they called me Wdbimq 
or White-loon. 
FASTING EXPERIENCE (B). 
When I was a boy of eleven years old, I was told by my 
mother that it was about time for me to find out something 
concerning my future life and this I was to do by fasting. I was 
at first not to eat or drink anything for five days except at supper. 
The sixth day they built a little wigwam for me alongside of a 
little creek running through the woods and left me there over 
56815—5 
