It begins with a slave-woman giving birth to a daughter in the frozen depths of winter. A witch appears, asking for the child, promising to raise it as a shaman.
″ ‘From now on,’ Katy promised, ‘I shall never complain, I’ll be a happy caboose at the end of a train
And put up with the jolts, the train noise, and the rest,
All the smoke that rolls by- or at least try my best.’ ”