The Song of Hiawatha   ::   Longfellow Henry Wadsworth

But the gracious Hiawatha,

And thelovely 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.