Part XI: Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast
Part XI: Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast
- You shall hear how Pau-Puk-Keewis,
- How the handsome Yenadizze
- Danced at Hiawatha's wedding;
- How the gentle Chibiabos,
- He the sweetest of musicians,
- Sang his songs of love and longing;
- How Iagoo, the great boaster,
- He the marvellous story-teller,
- Told his tales of strange adventure,
- That the feast might be more joyous,
- That the time might pass more gayly,
- And the guests be more contented.
- Sumptuous was the feast Nokomis
- Made at Hiawatha's wedding;
- All the bowls were made of bass-wood,
- White and polished very smoothly,
- All the spoons of horn of bison,
- Black and polished very smoothly.
- She had sent through all the village
- Messengers with wands of willow,
- As a sign of invitation,
- As a token of the feasting;
- And the wedding guests assembled,
- Clad in all their richest raiment,
- Robes of fur and belts of wampum,
- Splendid with their paint and plumage,
- Beautiful with beads and tassels.
- First they ate the sturgeon, Nahma,
- And the pike, the Maskenozha,
- Caught and cooked by old Nokomis;
- Then on pemican they feasted,
- Pemican and buffalo marrow,
- Haunch of deer and hump of bison,
- Yellow cakes of the Mondamin,
- And the wild rice of the river.
- But the gracious Hiawatha,
- And the lovely Laughing Water,
- And the careful old Nokomis,
- Tasted not the food before them,
- Only waited on the others
- Only served their guests in silence.
- And when all the guests had finished,
- Old Nokomis, brisk and busy,
- From an ample pouch of otter,
- Filled the red-stone pipes for smoking
- With tobacco from the South-land,
- Mixed with bark of the red willow,
- And with herbs and leaves of fragrance.
- Then she said, "O Pau-Puk-Keewis,
- Dance for us your merry dances,
- Dance the Beggar's Dance to please us,
- That the feast may be more joyous,
- That the time may pass more gayly,
- And our guests be more contented!"
- Then the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis,
- He the idle Yenadizze,
- He the merry mischief-maker,
- Whom the people called the Storm-Fool,
- Rose among the guests assembled.
- Skilled was he in sports and pastimes,
- In the merry dance of snow-shoes,
- In the play of quoits and ball-play;
- Skilled was he in games of hazard,
- In all games of skill and hazard,
- Pugasaing, the Bowl and Counters,
- Kuntassoo, the Game of Plum-stones.
- Though the warriors called him Faint-Heart,
- Called him coward, Shaugodaya,
- Idler, gambler, Yenadizze,
- Little heeded he their jesting,
- Little cared he for their insults,
- For the women and the maidens
- Loved the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis.
- He was dressed in shirt of doeskin,
- White and soft, and fringed with ermine,
- All inwrought with beads of wampum;
- He was dressed in deer-skin leggings,
- Fringed with hedgehog quills and ermine,
- And in moccasins of buck-skin,
- Thick with quills and beads embroidered.
- On his head were plumes of swan's down,
- On his heels were tails of foxes,
- In one hand a fan of feathers,
- And a pipe was in the other.
- Barred with streaks of red and yellow,
- Streaks of blue and bright vermilion,
- Shone the face of Pau-Puk-Keewis.
- From his forehead fell his tresses,
- Smooth, and parted like a woman's,
- Shining bright with oil, and plaited,
- Hung with braids of scented grasses,
- As among the guests assembled,
- To the sound of flutes and singing,
- To the sound of drums and voices,
- Rose the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis,
- And began his mystic dances.
- First he danced a solemn measure,
- Very slow in step and gesture,
- In and out among the pine-trees,
- Through the shadows and the sunshine,
- Treading softly like a panther.
- Then more swiftly and still swifter,
- Whirling, spinning round in circles,
- Leaping o'er the guests assembled,
- Eddying round and round the wigwam,
- Till the leaves went whirling with him,
- Till the dust and wind together
- Swept in eddies round about him.
- Then along the sandy margin
- Of the lake, the Big-Sea-Water,
- On he sped with frenzied gestures,
- Stamped upon the sand, and tossed it
- Wildly in the air around him;
- Till the wind became a whirlwind,
- Till the sand was blown and sifted
- Like great snowdrifts o'er the landscape,
- Heaping all the shores with Sand Dunes,
- Sand Hills of the Nagow Wudjoo!
- Thus the merry Pau-Puk-Keewis
- Danced his Beggar's Dance to please them,
- And, returning, sat down laughing
- There among the guests assembled,
- Sat and fanned himself serenely
- With his fan of turkey-feathers.
- Then they said to Chibiabos,
- To the friend of Hiawatha,
- To the sweetest of all singers,
- To the best of all musicians,
- "Sing to us, O Chibiabos!
- Songs of love and songs of longing,
- That the feast may be more joyous,
- That the time may pass more gayly,
- And our guests be more contented!"
- And the gentle Chibiabos
- Sang in accents sweet and tender,
- Sang in tones of deep emotion,
- Songs of love and songs of longing;
- Looking still at Hiawatha,
- Looking at fair Laughing Water,
- Sang he softly, sang in this wise:
- "Onaway! Awake, beloved!
- Thou the wild-flower of the forest!
- Thou the wild-bird of the prairie!
- Thou with eyes so soft and fawn-like!
- "If thou only lookest at me,
- I am happy, I am happy,
- As the lilies of the prairie,
- When they feel the dew upon them!
- "Sweet thy breath is as the fragrance
- Of the wild-flowers in the morning,
- As their fragrance is at evening,
- In the Moon when leaves are falling.
- "Does not all the blood within me
- Leap to meet thee, leap to meet thee,
- As the springs to meet the sunshine,
- In the Moon when nights are brightest?
- "Onaway! my heart sings to thee,
- Sings with joy when thou art near me,
- As the sighing, singing branches
- In the pleasant Moon of Strawberries!
- "When thou art not pleased, beloved,
- Then my heart is sad and darkened,
- As the shining river darkens
- When the clouds drop shadows on it!
- "When thou smilest, my beloved,
- Then my troubled heart is brightened,
- As in sunshine gleam the ripples
- That the cold wind makes in rivers.
- "Smiles the earth, and smile the waters,
- Smile the cloudless skies above us,
- But I lose the way of smiling
- When thou art no longer near me!
- "I myself, myself! behold me!
- Blood of my beating heart, behold me!
- Oh awake, awake, beloved!
- Onaway! awake, beloved!"
- Thus the gentle Chibiabos
- Sang his song of love and longing;
- And Iagoo, the great boaster,
- He the marvellous story-teller,
- He the friend of old Nokomis,
- Jealous of the sweet musician,
- Jealous of the applause they gave him,
- Saw in all the eyes around him,
- Saw in all their looks and gestures,
- That the wedding guests assembled
- Longed to hear his pleasant stories,
- His immeasurable falsehoods.
- Very boastful was Iagoo;
- Never heard he an adventure
- But himself had met a greater;
- Never any deed of daring
- But himself had done a bolder;
- Never any marvellous story
- But himself could tell a stranger.
- Would you listen to his boasting,
- Would you only give him credence,
- No one ever shot an arrow
- Half so far and high as he had;
- Ever caught so many fishes,
- Ever killed so many reindeer,
- Ever trapped so many beaver!
- None could run so fast as he could,
- None could dive so deep as he could,
- None could swim so far as he could;
- None had made so many journeys,
- None had seen so many wonders,
- As this wonderful Iagoo,
- As this marvellous story-teller!
- Thus his name became a by-word
- And a jest among the people;
- And whene'er a boastful hunter
- Praised his own address too highly,
- Or a warrior, home returning,
- Talked too much of his achievements,
- All his hearers cried, "Iagoo!
- Here's Iagoo come among us!"
- He it was who carved the cradle
- Of the little Hiawatha,
- Carved its framework out of linden,
- Bound it strong with reindeer sinews;
- He it was who taught him later
- How to make his bows and arrows,
- How to make the bows of ash-tree,
- And the arrows of the oak-tree.
- So among the guests assembled
- At my Hiawatha's wedding
- Sat Iagoo, old and ugly,
- Sat the marvellous story-teller.
- And they said, "O good Iagoo,
- Tell us now a tale of wonder,
- Tell us of some strange adventure,
- That the feast may be more joyous,
- That the time may pass more gayly,
- And our guests be more contented!"
- And Iagoo answered straightway,
- "You shall hear a tale of wonder,
- You shall hear the strange adventures
- Of Osseo, the Magician,
- From the Evening Star descending."
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