Part 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 talked together,
- Questioned, listened, waited, answered;
- Much the mighty Mudjekeewis
- Boasted of his ancient prowess,
- Of his perilous adventures,
- His indomitable courage,
- His invulnerable body.
- Patiently sat Hiawatha,
- Listening to his father's boasting;
- With a smile he sat and listened,
- Uttered neither threat nor menace,
- Neither word nor look betrayed him,
- But his heart was hot within him,
- Like a living coal his heart was.
- Then he said, "O Mudjekeewis,
- Is there nothing that can harm you?
- Nothing that you are afraid of?"
- And the mighty Mudjekeewis,
- Grand and gracious in his boasting,
- Answered, saying, "There is nothing,
- Nothing but the black rock yonder,
- Nothing but the fatal Wawbeek!"
- And he looked at Hiawatha
- With a wise look and benignant,
- With a countenance paternal,
- Looked with pride upon the beauty
- Of his tall and graceful figure,
- Saying, "O my Hiawatha!
- Is there anything can harm you?
- Anything you are afraid of?"
- But the wary Hiawatha
- Paused awhile, as if uncertain,
- Held his peace, as if resolving,
- And then answered, "There is nothing,
- Nothing but the bulrush yonder,
- Nothing but the great Apukwa!"
- And as Mudjekeewis, rising,
- Stretched his hand to pluck the bulrush,
- Hiawatha cried in terror,
- Cried in well-dissembled terror,
- "Kago! kago! do not touch it!"
- "Ah, kaween!" said Mudjekeewis,
- "No indeed, I will not touch it!"
- Then they talked of other matters;
- First of Hiawatha's brothers,
- First of Wabun, of the East-Wind,
- Of the South-Wind, Shawondasee,
- Of the North, Kabibonokka;
- Then of Hiawatha's mother,
- Of the beautiful Wenonah,
- Of her birth upon the meadow,
- Of her death, as old Nokomis
- Had remembered and related.
- And he cried, "O Mudjekeewis,
- It was you who killed Wenonah,
- Took her young life and her beauty,
- Broke the Lily of the Prairie,
- Trampled it beneath your footsteps;
- You confess it! you confess it!"
- And the mighty Mudjekeewis
- Tossed upon the wind his tresses,
- Bowed his hoary head in anguish,
- With a silent nod assented.
- Then up started Hiawatha,
- And with threatening look and gesture
- Laid his hand upon the black rock,
- On the fatal Wawbeek laid it,
- With his mittens, Minjekahwun,
- Rent the jutting crag asunder,
- Smote and crushed it into fragments,
- Hurled them madly at his father,
- The remorseful Mudjekeewis,
- For his heart was hot within him,
- Like a living coal his heart was.
- But the ruler of the West-Wind
- Blew the fragments backward from him,
- With the breathing of his nostrils,
- With the tempest of his anger,
- Blew them back at his assailant;
- Seized the bulrush, the Apukwa,
- Dragged it with its roots and fibres
- From the margin of the meadow,
- From its ooze the giant bulrush;
- Long and loud laughed Hiawatha!
- Then began the deadly conflict,
- Hand to hand among the mountains;
- From his eyry screamed the eagle,
- The Keneu, the great war-eagle,
- Sat upon the crags around them,
- Wheeling flapped his wings above them.
- Like a tall tree in the tempest
- Bent and lashed the giant bulrush;
- And in masses huge and heavy
- Crashing fell the fatal Wawbeek;
- Till the earth shook with the tumult
- And confusion of the battle,
- And the air was full of shoutings,
- And the thunder of the mountains,
- Starting, answered, "Baim-wawa!"
- Back retreated Mudjekeewis,
- Rushing westward o'er the mountains,
- Stumbling westward down the mountains,
- Three whole days retreated fighting,
- Still pursued by Hiawatha
- To the doorways of the West-Wind,
- To the portals of the Sunset,
- To the earth's remotest border,
- Where into the empty spaces
- Sinks the sun, as a flamingo
- Drops into her nest at nightfall
- In the melancholy marshes.
- "Hold!" at length cried Mudjekeewis,
- "Hold, my son, my Hiawatha!
- 'T is impossible to kill me,
- For you cannot kill the immortal
- I have put you to this trial,
- But to know and prove your courage;
- Now receive the prize of valor!
- "Go back to your home and people,
- Live among them, toil among them,
- Cleanse the earth from all that harms it,
- Clear the fishing-grounds and rivers,
- Slay all monsters and magicians,
- All the Wendigoes, the giants,
- All the serpents, the Kenabeeks,
- As I slew the Mishe-Mokwa,
- Slew the Great Bear of the mountains.
- "And at last when Death draws near you,
- When the awful eyes of Pauguk
- Glare upon you in the darkness,
- I will share my kingdom with you,
- Ruler shall you be thenceforward
- Of the Northwest-Wind, Keewaydin,
- Of the home-wind, the Keewaydin."
- Thus was fought that famous battle
- In the dreadful days of Shah-shah,
- In the days long since departed,
- In the kingdom of the West-Wind.
- Still the hunter sees its traces
- Scattered far o'er hill and valley;
- Sees the giant bulrush growing
- By the ponds and water-courses,
- Sees the masses of the Wawbeek
- Lying still in every valley.
- Homeward now went Hiawatha;
- Pleasant was the landscape round him,
- Pleasant was the air above him,
- For the bitterness of anger
- Had departed wholly from him,
- From his brain the thought of vengeance,
- From his heart the burning fever.
- Only once his pace he slackened,
- Only once he paused or halted,
- Paused to purchase heads of arrows
- Of the ancient Arrow-maker,
- In the land of the Dacotahs,
- Where the Falls of Minnehaha
- Flash and gleam among the oak-trees,
- Laugh and leap into the valley.
- There the ancient Arrow-maker
- Made his arrow-heads of sandstone,
- Arrow-heads of chalcedony,
- Arrow-heads of flint and jasper,
- Smoothed and sharpened at the edges,
- Hard and polished, keen and costly.
- With him dwelt his dark-eyed daughter,
- Wayward as the Minnehaha,
- With her moods of shade and sunshine,
- Eyes that smiled and frowned alternate,
- Feet as rapid as the river,
- Tresses flowing like the water,
- And as musical a laughter:
- And he named her from the river,
- From the water-fall he named her,
- Minnehaha, Laughing Water.
- Was it then for heads of arrows,
- Arrow-heads of chalcedony,
- Arrow-heads of flint and jasper,
- That my Hiawatha halted
- In the land of the Dacotahs?
- Was it not to see the maiden,
- See the face of Laughing Water
- Peeping from behind the curtain,
- Hear the rustling of her garments
- From behind the waving curtain,
- As one sees the Minnehaha
- Gleaming, glancing through the branches,
- As one hears the Laughing Water
- From behind its screen of branches?
- Who shall say what thoughts and visions
- Fill the fiery brains of young men?
- Who shall say what dreams of beauty
- Filled the heart of Hiawatha?
- All he told to old Nokomis,
- When he reached the lodge at sunset,
- Was the meeting with his father,
- Was his fight with Mudjekeewis;
- Not a word he said of arrows,
- Not a word of Laughing Water.
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