The Song of Hiawatha   ::   Longfellow Henry Wadsworth

Pleasant was the journey homeward!

All the birds sang loud and sweetly

Songs of happiness and heart's-ease;

Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa,

"Happy are you, Hiawatha,

Having such a wife to love you!"

Sang the robin, the Opechee,

"Happy are you, Laughing Water,

Having such a noble husband!"

From the sky the sun benignant

Looked upon them through the branches,

Saying to them, "O my children,

Love is sunshine, hate is shadow,

Life is checkered shade and sunshine,

Rule by love, O Hiawatha!"

From the sky the moon looked at them,

Filled the lodge with mystic splendors,

Whispered to them, "O my children,

Day is restless, night is quiet,

Man imperious, woman feeble;

Half is mine, although I follow;

Rule by patience, Laughing Water!"

Thus it was they journeyed homeward;

Thus it was that Hiawatha

To the lodge of old Nokomis

Brought the moonlight, starlight, firelight,

Brought the sunshine of his people,

Minnehaha, Laughing Water,

Handsomest of all the women

In the land of the Dacotahs,

In the land of handsome women.



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.