Part III: Hiawatha's Childhood
- Downward through the evening twilight,
- In the days that are forgotten,
- In the unremembered ages,
- From the full moon fell Nokomis,
- Fell the beautiful Nokomis,
- She a wife, but not a mother.
- She was sporting with her women,
- Swinging in a swing of grape-vines,
- When her rival the rejected,
- Full of jealousy and hatred,
- Cut the leafy swing asunder,
- Cut in twain the twisted grape-vines,
- And Nokomis fell affrighted
- Downward through the evening twilight,
- On the Muskoday, the meadow,
- On the prairie full of blossoms.
- "See! a star falls!" said the people;
- "From the sky a star is falling!"
- There among the ferns and mosses,
- There among the prairie lilies,
- On the Muskoday, the meadow,
- In the moonlight and the starlight,
- Fair Nokomis bore a daughter.
- And she called her name Wenonah,
- As the first-born of her daughters.
- And the daughter of Nokomis
- Grew up like the prairie lilies,
- Grew a tall and slender maiden,
- With the beauty of the moonlight,
- With the beauty of the starlight.
- And Nokomis warned her often,
- Saying oft, and oft repeating,
- "Oh, beware of Mudjekeewis,
- Of the West-Wind, Mudjekeewis;
- Listen not to what he tells you;
- Lie not down upon the meadow,
- Stoop not down among the lilies,
- Lest the West-Wind come and harm you!"
- But she heeded not the warning,
- Heeded not those words of wisdom,
- And the West-Wind came at evening,
- Walking lightly o'er the prairie,
- Whispering to the leaves and blossoms,
- Bending low the flowers and grasses,
- Found the beautiful Wenonah,
- Lying there among the lilies,
- Wooed her with his words of sweetness,
- Wooed her with his soft caresses,
- Till she bore a son in sorrow,
- Bore a son of love and sorrow.
- Thus was born my Hiawatha,
- Thus was born the child of wonder;
- But the daughter of Nokomis,
- Hiawatha's gentle mother,
- In her anguish died deserted
- By the West-Wind, false and faithless,
- By the heartless Mudjekeewis.
- For her daughter long and loudly
- Wailed and wept the sad Nokomis;
- "Oh that I were dead!" she murmured,
- "Oh that I were dead, as thou art!
- No more work, and no more weeping,
- Wahonowin! Wahonowin!"
- By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
- By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
- Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
- Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
- Dark behind it rose the forest,
- Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
- Rose the firs with cones upon them;
- Bright before it beat the water,
- Beat the clear and sunny water,
- Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
- There the wrinkled old Nokomis
- Nursed the little Hiawatha,
- Rocked him in his linden cradle,
- Bedded soft in moss and rushes,
- Safely bound with reindeer sinews;
- Stilled his fretful wail by saying,
- "Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!"
- Lulled him into slumber, singing,
- "Ewa-yea! my little owlet!
- Who is this, that lights the wigwam?
- With his great eyes lights the wigwam?
- Ewa-yea! my little owlet!"
- Many things Nokomis taught him
- Of the stars that shine in heaven;
- Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet,
- Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses;
- Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits,
- Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs,
- Flaring far away to northward
- In the frosty nights of Winter;
- Showed the broad white road in heaven,
- Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows,
- Running straight across the heavens,
- Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows.
- At the door on summer evenings
- Sat the little Hiawatha;
- Heard the whispering of the pine-trees,
- Heard the lapping of the waters,
- Sounds of music, words of wonder;
- 'Minne-wawa!" said the Pine-trees,
- Mudway-aushka!" said the water.
- Saw the fire-fly, Wah-wah-taysee,
- Flitting through the dusk of evening,
- With the twinkle of its candle
- Lighting up the brakes and bushes,
- And he sang the song of children,
- Sang the song Nokomis taught him:
- "Wah-wah-taysee, little fire-fly,
- Little, flitting, white-fire insect,
- Little, dancing, white-fire creature,
- Light me with your little candle,
- Ere upon my bed I lay me,
- Ere in sleep I close my eyelids!"
- Saw the moon rise from the water
- Rippling, rounding from the water,
- Saw the flecks and shadows on it,
- Whispered, "What is that, Nokomis?"
- And the good Nokomis answered:
- "Once a warrior, very angry,
- Seized his grandmother, and threw her
- Up into the sky at midnight;
- Right against the moon he threw her;
- 'T is her body that you see there."
- Saw the rainbow in the heaven,
- In the eastern sky, the rainbow,
- Whispered, "What is that, Nokomis?"
- And the good Nokomis answered:
- "'T is the heaven of flowers you see there;
- All the wild-flowers of the forest,
- All the lilies of the prairie,
- When on earth they fade and perish,
- Blossom in that heaven above us."
- When he heard the owls at midnight,
- Hooting, laughing in the forest,
- 'What is that?" he cried in terror,
- "What is that," he said, "Nokomis?"
- And the good Nokomis answered:
- "That is but the owl and owlet,
- Talking in their native language,
- Talking, scolding at each other."
- Then the little Hiawatha
- Learned of every bird its language,
- Learned their names and all their secrets,
- How they built their nests in Summer,
- Where they hid themselves in Winter,
- Talked with them whene'er he met them,
- Called them "Hiawatha's Chickens."
- Of all beasts he learned the language,
- Learned their names and all their secrets,
- How the beavers built their lodges,
- Where the squirrels hid their acorns,
- How the reindeer ran so swiftly,
- Why the rabbit was so timid,
- Talked with them whene'er he met them,
- Called them "Hiawatha's Brothers."
- Then Iagoo, the great boaster,
- He the marvellous story-teller,
- He the traveller and the talker,
- He the friend of old Nokomis,
- Made a bow for Hiawatha;
- From a branch of ash he made it,
- From an oak-bough made the arrows,
- Tipped with flint, and winged with feathers,
- And the cord he made of deer-skin.
- Then he said to Hiawatha:
- "Go, my son, into the forest,
- Where the red deer herd together,
- Kill for us a famous roebuck,
- Kill for us a deer with antlers!"
- Forth into the 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!
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