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The goose sounded again, this time very near him, and the boy realized that it was no bird which called to hi behind a slender young cedar not far away His heart fleard like a duck taking flight fro just short of clasping her in his young arms She looked bashful and embarrassed, her black eyes downcast

“How did you learn to call like the ater birds?” he asked eagerly

“I told you I have fed them and talked with them since I was a child—there was no one else They… sohts when it is very cold, and we rest together under the hard stars”

The boy again resisted the urge to embrace her, and instead clapped her on the shoulder as he had seen his father do with his comrades

“You told me, but how could I believe it? Someday you must teach me!” he announced “But first, the story! Continue the story! I must knohat happened to the Prince now that the Witch has finished her tale!”

The two stole away fro place They ducked into a grove of sweet-scented cedars and the girl settled in

She srin

“You are wrong, though The Witch had hardly begun…”

GRANDMOTHER FOLDED HER ARMS LIKE AN OLD stick-bug, s my hair I still remember her voice, and horapped around that dark cellar, clawing at the walls and licking into the massive locks at the sa thread between her lips

“So you can change like that, even now? Right now?”

“Yes, I could”

“Could I do it?”

“You will never go to the cave now, ht inside Liulfr, or inside the dead Star You will be a witch of leaves and grasses, at best: you will out-softeners for those who can pay you, and look up at the sky, and tell a young girl whether her husband will have light or dark hair, and deliver her baby when the tiht for that, but that is all”

I sed that, chewing on it like a strip of hide Finally, I grunted A itch was better than no witch at all

“Could you do it to another person?” I asked suddenly