To-night the spell was on him again, and he sat bulked up in his chair, rocklike and immovable.
From the open door of the next room he could hear Necia and the little ones.

She had made them ready for bed, and was telling them the tale of the snow-bird's spot.
"So when all the other birds had failed," he heard her say, "the little snowbird asked for a chance to try.

He flew and flew, and just before he came to the edge of the world where the two Old Women lived he pulled out all of his feathers.

When he came to them he said:" "'I am very cold.

May I warm myself at your fire ?'" "They saw how little and naked he was, and how he shivered, so they did not throw sticks at him, but allowed him to creep close.