The Song of Hiawatha | Page 7

forest straightway
All alone walked Hiawatha

Proudly, with his bow and arrows;
And the birds sang round him, o'er
him,
"Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!"
Sang the robin, the Opechee,

Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa,
"Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!"
Up the oak-tree, close beside him,
Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo,

In and out among the branches,
Coughed and chattered from the
oak-tree,
Laughed, and said between his laughing,
"Do not shoot
me, Hiawatha!"
And the rabbit from his pathway
Leaped aside, and at a distance
Sat
erect upon his haunches,
Half in fear and half in frolic,
Saying to
the little hunter,
"Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!"
But he heeded not, nor heard them,
For his thoughts were with the red
deer;
On their tracks his eyes were fastened,
Leading downward to
the river,
To the ford across the river,
And as one in slumber
walked he.
Hidden in the alder-bushes,
There he waited till the deer came,
Till
he saw two antlers lifted,
Saw two eyes look from the thicket,
Saw
two nostrils point to windward,
And a deer came down the pathway,

Flecked with leafy light and shadow.
And his heart within him
fluttered,
Trembled like the leaves above him,
Like the birch-leaf
palpitated,
As the deer came down the pathway.
Then, upon one knee uprising,
Hiawatha aimed an arrow;
Scarce a
twig moved with his motion,
Scarce a leaf was stirred or rustled,

But the wary roebuck started,
Stamped with all his hoofs together,

Listened with one foot uplifted,
Leaped as if to meet the arrow;
Ah!
the singing, fatal arrow,

Like a wasp it buzzed and stung him!
Dead he lay there in the forest,
By the ford across the river;
Beat his

timid heart no longer,
But the heart of Hiawatha
Throbbed and
shouted and exulted,
As he bore the red deer homeward,
And Iagoo
and Nokomis
Hailed his coming with applauses.
From the red deer's hide Nokomis
Made a cloak for Hiawatha,

From the red deer's flesh Nokomis
Made a banquet to his honor.
All
the village came and feasted,
All the guests praised Hiawatha,

Called him Strong-Heart, Soan-ge-taha!
Called him Loon-Heart,
Mahn-go-taysee!
IV
Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis
Out of childhood into manhood
Now had grown my Hiawatha,

Skilled in all the craft of hunters,
Learned in all the lore of old men,

In all youthful sports and pastimes,
In all manly arts and labors.
Swift of foot was Hiawatha;
He could shoot an arrow from him,

And run forward with such fleetness,
That the arrow fell behind him!

Strong of arm was Hiawatha;
He could shoot ten arrows upward,

Shoot them with such strength and swiftness,
That the tenth had left
the bow-string
Ere the first to earth had fallen!
He had mittens, Minjekahwun,
Magic mittens made of deer-skin;

When upon his hands he wore them,
He could smite the rocks
asunder,
He could grind them into powder.
He had moccasins
enchanted,
Magic moccasins of deer-skin;
When he bound them
round his ankles,
When upon his feet he tied them,
At each stride a
mile he measured!
Much he questioned old Nokomis
Of his father Mudjekeewis;

Learned from her the fatal secret
Of the beauty of his mother,
Of
the falsehood of his father;
And his heart was hot within him,
Like
a living coal his heart was.

Then he said to old Nokomis,
"I will go to Mudjekeewis,
See how
fares it with my father,
At the doorways of the West-Wind,
At the
portals of the Sunset!"
From his lodge went Hiawatha,
Dressed for travel, armed for hunting;

Dressed in deer-skin shirt and leggings,
Richly wrought with quills
and wampum;
On his head his eagle-feathers,
Round his waist his
belt of wampum,
In his hand his bow of ash-wood,
Strung with
sinews of the reindeer;
In his quiver oaken arrows,
Tipped with
jasper, winged with feathers;
With his mittens, Minjekahwun,
With
his moccasins enchanted.
Warning said the old Nokomis,
"Go not forth, O Hiawatha!
To the
kingdom of the West-Wind,
To the realms of Mudjekeewis,
Lest he
harm you with his magic,
Lest he kill you with his cunning!"
But the fearless Hiawatha
Heeded not her woman's warning;
Forth
he strode into the forest,
At each stride a mile he measured;
Lurid
seemed the sky above him,
Lurid seemed the earth beneath him,

Hot and close the air around him,
Filled with smoke and fiery vapors,

As of burning woods and prairies,
For his heart was hot within him,

Like a living coal his heart was.
So he journeyed westward, westward,
Left the fleetest deer behind
him,
Left the antelope and bison;
Crossed the rushing Esconaba,

Crossed the mighty Mississippi,
Passed the Mountains of the Prairie,

Passed the land of Crows and Foxes,
Passed the dwellings of the
Blackfeet,
Came unto the Rocky Mountains,
To the kingdom of the
West-Wind,
Where upon the gusty summits
Sat the ancient
Mudjekeewis,
Ruler of the winds of heaven.
Filled with awe was Hiawatha
At the aspect of his father.
On the air
about him wildly
Tossed and streamed his cloudy tresses,
Gleamed
like drifting snow his tresses,
Glared like Ishkoodah, the comet,


Like the star with fiery tresses.
Filled with joy was Mudjekeewis
When he looked on Hiawatha,

Saw his youth rise up before him
In the face of Hiawatha,
Saw the
beauty of Wenonah
From the grave rise up before him.
"Welcome!" said he, "Hiawatha,
To the kingdom of the West-Wind

Long have I been waiting for you
Youth is lovely, age is lonely,

Youth is fiery, age is frosty;
You bring back the days departed,
You
bring back my youth of passion,
And the beautiful Wenonah!"
Many days they