English

At the door on summer evenings
Sat the little Hiawatha;
Heard the whispering of the pine-trees,
Heard the lapping of the water,
Sounds of music, words of wonder;
" Minne-wawa! " said the pine-trees,
" Mudway-aushka! " said the water.
Saw the fire-fly, Wah-wah-taysee,
Flitting through the dusk of evening,
With the twinkle of its candle
Lighting up the brakes and bushes,
And he sang the song of children,
Sang the song Nokomis taught him:
" Wah-wah-taysee, little firefly,

Then the little Hiawatha
Learned of every bird its language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How they built their nest in summer,
Where they hid themselves in winter,
Talked with them whene'er he met them,
Called them " Hiawatha's chickens. "
Of all beasts he learned the language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How the beavers built their lodges,
Where the squirrels hid their acorns,
How the reindeer ran so swiftly,
Why the rabbit was so timid,
Talked with them whene'er he met them,

By the shores of Gitchee Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

There the wrinkled old Nokomis
Nursed the little Hiawatha,
Rocked him in his linden cradle,
Bedded soft in moss and rushes,
Safely bound with reindeer sinews;

HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD

Downward through the evening twilight,
In the days that are forgotten,
In the unremembered ages,
From the full moon fell Nokomis,
Fell the beautiful Nokomis,
She a wife, but not a mother.
She was sporting with her women,
Swinging in a swing of grape-vines,
When her rival the rejected,
Full of jealousy and hatred,
Cut the leafy swing asunder,
Cut in twain the twisted grape-vines,
And Nokomis fell affrighted

THE FOUR WINDS

" Honor be to Mudjekeewis! "
Cried the warriors, cried the old men,
When he came in triumph homeward
With the sacred Belt of Wampum,
From the regions of the North-Wind,
From the kingdom of Wabasso,
From the land of the White Rabbit.
He had stolen the Belt of Wampum
From the neck of Mishe-Mokwa,
From the Great Bear of the mountains,
From the terror of the nations,
As he lay asleep and cumbrous
On the summit of the mountains,

On the Mountains of the Prairie,
On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry,
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
He the Master of Life, descending,
On the red crags of the quarry
Stood erect, and called the nations,
Called the tribes of men together.
From his footprints flowed a river,
Leaped into the light of morning,
O'er the precipice plunging downward
Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet.
And the Spirit, stooping earthward,
With his finger on the meadow
Traced a winding pathway for it,
Saying to it, " Run in this way! "

Thou far-fled pasture, long evanished scene,
Where Nature's freedom spread the flowery green —
Where golden kingcups opened into view,
Where silver daisies charmed the raptured view,
And tottering (hid among those brighter gems)
Where silver grasses bent their tiny stems,
Where the pale lilac mean and lowly grew
Courting in vain each gazer's heedless view,
While cowslips, sweetest flowers upon the plain,
Seemingly bowed to shun the hand in vain,
Where lowing oxen roamed to feed at large

33

" Four years each day with daily bread was blest,
By constant toil and constant prayer supplied.
Three lovely infants lay within my breast,
And often, viewing their sweet smiles, I sighed
And knew not why. My happy father died
Just as the children's meal began to fail,
For War the nations to the field defied:
The loom stood still unwatched, the idle gale
Wooed in deserted shrouds the unregarding sail.

34

How changed at once: for Labour's cheerful hum,
Silence and fears and Misery's weeping train.

1

The Mind of Man is this worlds true dimension;
And Knowledge is the measure of the minde:
And as the minde, in her vaste comprehension,
Containes more worlds than all the world can finde:
So Knowledge doth it selfe farre more extend,
Than all the minds of Men can comprehend.

2

A climing Height it is without a head,
Depth without bottome, Way without an end,
A Circle with no line inuironed;
Not comprehended, all it comprehends;

Yet some there be, believers for the nonce,
Who God's commands unwelcomely obey.
Lost in the path, they keep the heavenward way
But trip at absolute heaven and drop at once
In the red gulf: not so do thou essay
To snatch the splendor and to see the thrones.
Take patience, hope, nor miserably mourn;
If evil sneereth, yet abides the good.
Even now, could we look where the white ones wait
Nigh before God, and for a moment scan
The angelic faces; even though we stood
In audience of their voices, could we learn