The Song of Hiawatha   ::   Longfellow Henry Wadsworth

Then Waywassimo, the lightning,

Smote the doorways of the caverns,

With his war-club smote the doorways,

Smote the jutting crags of sandstone,

And the thunder, Annemeekee,

Shouted down into the caverns,

Saying, "Where is Pau-Puk-Keewis!"

And the crags fell, and beneath them

Dead among the rocky ruins

Lay the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Lay the handsome Yenadizze,

Slain in his own human figure.

Ended were his wild adventures,

Ended were his tricks and gambols,

Ended all his craft and cunning,

Ended all his mischief-making,

All his gambling and his dancing,

All his wooing of the maidens.

Then the noble Hiawatha

Took his soul, his ghost, his shadow,

Spake and said: "O Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Never more in human figure

Shall you search for new adventures'

Never more with jest and laughter

Dance the dust and leaves in whirlwinds;

But above there in the heavens

You shall soar and sail in circles;

I will change you to an eagle,

To Keneu, the great war-eagle,

Chief of all the fowls with feathers,

Chief of Hiawatha's chickens."

And the name of Pau-Puk-Keewis

Lingers still among the people,

Lingers still among the singers,

And among the story-tellers;

And in Winter, when the snow-flakes

Whirl in eddies round the lodges,

When the wind in gusty tumult

O'er the smoke-flue pipes and whistles,

"There," they cry, "comes Pau-Puk-Keewis,

He is dancing through the village,

He is gathering in his harvest!"



XVIII

The Death of Kwasind

Far and wide among the nations

Spread the name and fame of Kwasind;

No man dared to strive with Kwasind,

No man could compete with Kwasind.

But the mischievous Puk-Wudjies,

They the envious Little People,

They the fairies and the pygmies,

Plotted and conspired against him.