The Song of Hiawatha   ::   Longfellow Henry Wadsworth

Stretchedupon his back he lay there;

Far below him splashed the waters,

Plashed and washed the dreamy waters;

Far above him swam the heavens,

Swam the dizzy, dreamy heavens;

Round him hovered, fluttered, rustled

Hiawatha's mountain chickens,

Flock-wise swept and wheeled about him,

Almost brushed him with their pinions.

And he killed them as he lay there,

Slaughtered them by tens and twenties,

Threw their bodies down the headland,

Threw them on the beach below him,

Till at length Kayoshk, the sea-gull,

Perched upon a crag above them,

Shouted: "It is Pau-Puk-Keewis!

He is slaying us by hundreds!

Send a message to our brother,

Tidings send to Hiawatha!"



XVII

The Hunting of Pau-Puk-Keewis

Full of wrath was Hiawatha

When he came into the village,

Found the people in confusion,

Heard of all the misdemeanors,

All the malice and the mischief,

Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis.

Hard his breath came through his nostrils,

Through his teeth he buzzed and muttered

Words of anger and resentment,

Hot and humming, like a hornet.

"I will slay this Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Slay this mischief-maker!" said he.

"Not so long and wide the world is,

Not so rude and rough the way is,

That my wrath shall not attain him,

That my vengeance shall not reach him!"

Then in swift pursuit departed

Hiawatha and the hunters

On the trail of Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Through the forest, where he passed it,

To the headlands where he rested;

But they found not Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Only in the trampled grasses,

In the whortleberry-bushes,

Found the couch where he had rested,

Found the impress of his body.