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| SING, O Song of Hiawatha, | |
| Of the happy days that followed, | |
| In the land of the Ojibways, | |
| In the pleasant land and peaceful! | |
| Sing the mysteries of Mondamin, | 5 |
| Sing the Blessing of the Cornfields! | |
| Buried was the bloody hatchet, | |
| Buried was the dreadful war-club, | |
| Buried were all warlike weapons, | |
| And the war-cry was forgotten. | 10 |
| There was peace among the nations; | |
| Unmolested roved the hunters, | |
| Built the birch canoe for sailing, | |
| Caught the fish in lake and river, | |
| Shot the deer and trapped the beaver; | 15 |
| Unmolested worked the women, | |
| Made their sugar from the maple, | |
| Gathered wild rice in the meadows, | |
| Dressed the skins of deer and beaver. | |
| All around the happy village | 20 |
| Stood the maize-fields, green and shining, | |
| Waved the green plumes of Mondamin, | |
| Waved his soft and sunny tresses, | |
| Filling all the land with plenty. | |
| ’T was the women who in Spring-time | 25 |
| Planted the broad fields and fruitful, | |
| Buried in the earth Mondamin; | |
| ’T was the women who in Autumn | |
| Stripped the yellow husks of harvest, | |
| Stripped the garments from Mondamin, | 30 |
| Even as Hiawatha taught them. | |
| Once, when all the maize was planted, | |
| Hiawatha, wise and thoughtful, | |
| Spake and said to Minnehaha, | |
| To his wife, the Laughing Water: | 35 |
| “You shall bless to-night the cornfields, | |
| Draw a magic circle round them, | |
| To protect them from destruction, | |
| Blast of mildew, blight of insect, | |
| Wagemin, the thief of cornfields, | 40 |
| Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear! | |
| “In the night, when all is silence, | |
| In the night, when all is darkness, | |
| When the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin, | |
| Shuts the doors of all the wigwams, | 45 |
| So that not an ear can hear you, | |
| So that not an eye can see you, | |
| Rise up from your bed in silence, | |
| Lay aside your garments wholly, | |
| Walk around the fields you planted, | 50 |
| Round the borders of the cornfields, | |
| Covered by your tresses only, | |
| Robed with darkness as a garment. | |
| “Thus the fields shall be more fruitful | |
| And the passing of your footsteps | 55 |
| Draw a magic circle round them, | |
| So that neither blight nor mildew, | |
| Neither burrowing worm nor insect, | |
| Shall pass o’er the magic circle; | |
| Not the dragon-fly, Kwo-ne-she, | 60 |
| Nor the spider, Subbekashe, | |
| Nor the grasshopper, Pah-puk-keena, | |
| Nor the mighty caterpillar, | |
| Way-muk-kwana, with the bear-skin, | |
| King of all the caterpillars!” | 65 |
| On the tree-tops near the cornfields | |
| Sat the hungry crows and ravens, | |
| Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, | |
| With his band of black marauders. | |
| And they laughed at Hiawatha, | 70 |
| Till the tree-tops shook with laughter, | |
| With their melancholy laughter, | |
| At the words of Hiawatha. | |
| “Hear him!” said they; “hear the Wise Man, | |
| Hear the plots of Hiawatha!” | 75 |
| When the noiseless night descended | |
| Broad and dark o’er field and forest, | |
| When the mournful Wawonaissa | |
| Sorrowing sang among the hemlocks, | |
| And the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin, | 80 |
| Shut the doors of all the wigwams, | |
| From her bed rose Laughing Water, | |
| Laid aside her garments wholly, | |
| And with darkness clothed and guarded, | |
| Unashamed and unaffrighted, | 85 |
| Walked securely round the cornfields, | |
| Drew the sacred, magic circle | |
| Of her footprints round the cornfields. | |
| No one but the Midnight only | |
| Saw her beauty in the darkness, | 90 |
| No one but the Wawonaissa | |
| Heard the panting of her bosom; | |
| Guskewau, the darkness, wrapped her | |
| Closely in his sacred mantle, | |
| So that none might see her beauty, | 95 |
| So that none might boast, “I saw her!” | |
| On the morrow, as the day dawned, | |
| Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, | |
| Gathered all his black marauders, | |
| Crows and blackbirds, jays and ravens, | 100 |
| Clamorous on the dusky tree-tops, | |
| And descended, fast and fearless, | |
| On the fields of Hiawatha, | |
| On the grave of the Mondamin. | |
| “We will drag Mondamin,” said they, | 105 |
| “From the grave where he is buried, | |
| Spite of all the magic circles | |
| Laughing Water draws around it, | |
| Spite of all the sacred footprints | |
| Minnehaha stamps upon it!” | 110 |
| But the wary Hiawatha, | |
| Ever thoughtful, careful, watchful, | |
| Had o’erheard the scornful laughter | |
| When they mocked him from the tree-tops. | |
| “Kaw!” he said, “my friends the ravens! | 115 |
| Kahgahgee, my King of Ravens! | |
| I will teach you all a lesson | |
| That shall not be soon forgotten!” | |
| He had risen before the daybreak, | |
| He had spread o’er all the cornfields | 120 |
| Snares to catch the black marauders, | |
| And was lying now in ambush | |
| In the neighboring grove of pine-trees, | |
| Waiting for the crows and blackbirds, | |
| Waiting for the jays and ravens. | 125 |
| Soon they came with caw and clamor | |
| Rush of wings and cry of voices, | |
| To their work of devastation, | |
| Settling down upon the cornfields, | |
| Delving deep with beak and talon, | 130 |
| For the body of Mondamin. | |
| And with all their craft and cunning, | |
| All their skill in wiles of warfare, | |
| They perceived no danger near them, | |
| Till their claws became entangled, | 135 |
| Till they found themselves imprisoned | |
| In the snares of Hiawatha. | |
| From his place of ambush came he, | |
| Striding terrible among them, | |
| And so awful was his aspect | 140 |
| That the bravest quailed with terror. | |
| Without mercy he destroyed them | |
| Right and left, by tens and twenties, | |
| And their wretched, lifeless bodies | |
| Hung aloft on poles for scarecrows | 145 |
| Round the consecrated cornfields, | |
| As a signal of his vengeance, | |
| As a warning to marauders. | |
| Only Kahgahgee, the leader, | |
| Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, | 150 |
| He alone was spared among them | |
| As a hostage for his people. | |
| With his prisoner-string he bound him. | |
| Led him captive to his wigwam, | |
| Tied him fast with cords of elm-bark | 155 |
| To the ridge-pole of his wigwam. | |
| “Kahgahgee, my raven!” said he, | |
| “You the leader of the robbers, | |
| You the plotter of this mischief, | |
| The contriver of this outrage, | 160 |
| I will keep you, I will hold you, | |
| As a hostage for your people, | |
| As a pledge of good behavior!” | |
| And he left him, grim and sulky, | |
| Sitting in the morning sunshine | 165 |
| On the summit of the wigwam, | |
| Croaking fiercely his displeasure, | |
| Flapping his great sable pinions, | |
| Vainly struggling for his freedom, | |
| Vainly calling on his people! | 170 |
| Summer passed, and Shawondasee | |
| Breathed his sighs o’er all the landscape, | |
| From the South-land sent his ardors, | |
| Wafted kisses warm and tender; | |
| And the maize-field grew and ripened, | 175 |
| Till it stood in all the splendor | |
| Of its garments green and yellow, | |
| Of its tassels and its plumage, | |
| And the maize-ears full and shining | |
| Gleamed from bursting sheaths of verdure. | 180 |
| Then Nokomis, the old woman, | |
| Spake, and said to Minnehaha: | |
| “’T is the Moon when leaves are falling; | |
| All the wild rice has been gathered, | |
| And the maize is ripe and ready; | 185 |
| Let us gather in the harvest, | |
| Let us wrestle with Mondamin, | |
| Strip him of his plumes and tassels, | |
| Of his garments green and yellow!” | |
| And the merry Laughing Water | 190 |
| Went rejoicing from the wigwam, | |
| With Nokomis, old and wrinkled, | |
| And they called the women round them, | |
| Called the young men and the maidens, | |
| To the harvest of the cornfields, | 195 |
| To the husking of the maize-ear. | |
| On the border of the forest, | |
| Underneath the fragrant pine-trees, | |
| Sat the old men and the warriors | |
| Smoking in the pleasant shadow. | 200 |
| In uninterrupted silence | |
| Looked they at the gamesome labor | |
| Of the young men and the women; | |
| Listened to their noisy talking, | |
| To their laughter and their singing, | 205 |
| Heard them chattering like the magpies, | |
| Heard them laughing like the blue-jays, | |
| Heard them singing like the robins. | |
| And whene’er some lucky maiden | |
| Found a red ear in the husking, | 210 |
| Found a maize-ear red as blood is, | |
| “Nushka!” cried they all together, | |
| “Nushka! you shall have a sweetheart, | |
| You shall have a handsome husband!” | |
| “Ugh!” the old men all responded | 215 |
| From their seats beneath the pine-trees. | |
| And whene’er a youth or maiden | |
| Found a crooked ear in husking, | |
| Found a maize-ear in the husking | |
| Blighted, mildewed, or misshapen, | 220 |
| Then they laughed and sang together, | |
| Crept and limped about the cornfields, | |
| Mimicked in their gait and gestures | |
| Some old man, bent almost double, | |
| Singing singly or together: | 225 |
| “Wagemin, the thief of cornfields! | |
| Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear!” | |
| Till the cornfields rang with laughter, | |
| Till from Hiawatha’s wigwam | |
| Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, | 230 |
| Screamed and quivered in his anger, | |
| And from all the neighboring tree-tops | |
| Cawed and croaked the black marauders. | |
| “Ugh!” the old men all responded, | |
| From their seats beneath the pine-trees! | 235 |
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