LITMIR.BIZ

      Forth into the forest straightway

      All alone walked Hiawatha

      Proudly, with his bow and arrows,

      And the birds sang round him, o'er him,

      "Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!"

      Sang the robin, the Opechee,

      Sang the blue bird, the Owaissa,

      "Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!"

      Up the oak tree, close beside him,

      Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo,

      In and out among the branches,

      Coughed and chattered from the oak tree,

      Laughed, and said between his laughing,

      "Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!"

      And the rabbit from his pathway

      Leaped aside, and at a distance

      Sat erect upon his haunches,

      Half in fear and half in frolic,

      Saying to the little hunter,

      "Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!"

      But he heeded not, nor heard them,

      For his thoughts were with the red deer;

      On their tracks his eyes were fastened,

      Leading downward to the river,

      To the ford across the river,

      And as one in slumber walked he,

      Hidden in the alder bushes.

      There he waited till the deer came,

      Till he saw two antlers lifted,

      Saw two eyes look from the thicket,

      Saw two nostrils point to windward,

      And a deer came down the pathway,

      Flecked with leafy light and shadow.

      And his heart within him fluttered,

      Trembled like the leaves above him,

      Like the birch-leaf palpitated,

      As the deer came down the pathway.

      Then, upon one knee uprising,

      Hiawatha aimed an arrow;

      Scarce a twig moved with his motion,

      Scarce a leaf was stirred or rustled,

      But the wary roebuck started,

      Stamped with all his hoofs together,

      Listened with one foot uplifted,

      Leaped as if to meet the arrow;

      Ah! the singing, fatal arrow,

      Like a wasp it buzzed and stung him!

      Dead he lay there in the forest,

      By the ford across the river;

      Beat his timid heart no longer,

      But the heart of Hiawatha

      Throbbed and shouted and exulted,

      As he bore the red deer homeward,

      And Iagoo and Nokomis

      Hailed his coming with applauses.

      From the red deer's hide Nokomis

      Made a cloak for Hiawatha,

      From the red deer's flesh Nokomis

      Made a banquet in his honor.

      All the village came and feasted,

      All the guests praised Hiawatha,

      Called him Strong-heart, Soan-ge-taha!

      Called him Loon-Heart, Mahn-go-taysee!

      "Give me of your bark, O Birch-Tree!

      Of your yellow bark, O Birch-Tree!

      Growing by the rushing river,

      Tall and stately in the valley!

      I a light canoe will build me,

      Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing,

      That shall float upon the river,

      Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,

      Like a yellow water-lily!

      "Lay aside your cloak, O Birch-Tree!

      Lay aside your white-skin wrapper,

      For the Summer-time is coming,

      And the sun is warm in heaven,

      And you need no white-skin wrapper!"

      Thus aloud cried Hiawatha

      In the solitary forest,

      By the rushing Taquamenaw,

      When the birds were singing gayly,

      In the Moon of Leaves were singing,

      And the sun, from sleep awaking,

      Started up and said, "Behold me!

      Gheezis, the great Sun, behold me!"

      And the tree with all its branches

      Rustled in the breeze of morning,

      Saying, with a sigh of patience,

      "Take my cloak, O Hiawatha!"

      With his knife the tree he girdled;

      Just beneath its lowest branches,

      Just above the roots, he cut it,

      Till the sap came oozing outward:

      Down the trunk, from top to bottom,

      Sheer he cleft the bark asunder,

      With a wooden wedge he raised it,

      Stripped it from the trunk unbroken.

      "Give me of your boughs, O Cedar!

      Of your strong and pliant branches,

      My canoe to make more steady,

      Make more strong and firm beneath me!"

      Through the summit of the Cedar

      Went a sound, a cry of horror,

      Went

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