diff --git a/library/tries.yap b/library/tries.yap
index e57a7d081..096cbfa4a 100644
--- a/library/tries.yap
+++ b/library/tries.yap
@@ -50,5 +50,4 @@ trie_dup(Trie, CopyTrie) :-
 	trie_join(CopyTrie, Trie).
 
 trie_traverse(Trie, Ref) :- 
-	trie_get_first_entry(Trie, InitRef),
-        (Ref = InitRef ; trie_traverse(Trie, InitRef, Ref)).
+	trie_traverse(Trie, 0, Ref).
diff --git a/library/tries/base_tries.c b/library/tries/base_tries.c
index 115dd5ec9..36c90e12b 100644
--- a/library/tries/base_tries.c
+++ b/library/tries/base_tries.c
@@ -189,7 +189,11 @@ inline
 TrData trie_traverse_init(TrEntry trie, TrData init_data) {
   TrData data;
 
-  data = TrData_next(init_data);
+  if (init_data) {
+    data = TrData_next(init_data);
+  } else {
+    data = TrEntry_first_data(trie);
+  }
   TrEntry_traverse_data(trie) = data;
   return data;
 }