"'While I eat I can see that your throat is working with hunger,' she insisted. And it was true I could have snatched the meat from her like a wolf, but because of my vow I would not.
"'M'toulin, there is a knife at your belt; why have you not killed the moose to make meat for us?'
"'Eight moons I have done no killing, seeking the Vision and the Voice,' I told her. 'It is more than my life to me.'
"When I had finished, she reached over with the last piece of rabbit and laid it on the fire. It was a sacrifice. As we watched the flame lick it up, all thought of killing went out of my head like the smoke of sacrifice, and my thought was good again.
"When the meat she had eaten had made her strong, Nukéwis sat up and crossed her hands on her bosom.
"'M'toulin,' she said, 'the evil that has come on you belongs to me. I will go away with it. I am a witch and bring evil on those who are kind to me.'
"'Who says you are a witch?'
"'All my village, and especially Waba-mooin. I brought sickness on the village, and on you hunger and the breaking of your vow.'
"'I have seen Waba-mooin,' I said. 'I do not think too much of his opinions.'
"'He is the Shaman of my village,' said Nukéwis. 'My father was Shaman before him, a much greater Shaman than Waba-mooin will ever be. He wanted my father's Medicine bundle which hung over the door to protect me; my father left it to me when he died. But afterward there was a sickness in the village, and Waba-mooin said it was because the powerful Medicine bundle was left in the hands of an ignorant girl. He said for the good of the village it ought to be taken away from me. ButI thought it was because so many people came to my house with their sick, because of my Medicine bundle, and Waba-mooin missed their gifts. He said that if I was not willing to part with my father's bundle, that he would marry me, but when I would not, then he said that I was a witch!'