The Story of Hiawatha, Adapted from LongfellowLongfellow, Henry Wadsworth
General
The Story of Hiawatha, Adapted from Longfellow
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Hiawatha, active 15th century -- Poetry; Indians of North America -- Poetry; Iroquois Indians -- Kings and rulers -- Poetry
On the next day, when the sun was setting, Mondamin came again to
wrestle with Hiawatha, and the day after that he came also and they
wrestled even longer than before. Then Mondamin smiled at Hiawatha and
said to him: "Three times, O Hiawatha, you have bravely wrestled with
me. To-morrow I shall wrestle with you once again, and you will overcome
me and throw me to the earth and I shall seem to be dead. Then, when I
am lying still and limp on the ground, do you take off my gay clothes
and bury me where we have wrestled. And you must make the ground above
the place where I am buried soft and light, and take good care that
weeds do not grow there and that ravens do not come there to disturb me,
until at last I rise again from the ground more beautiful than ever."
True to his word, Mondamin came at sunset of the next day, and he and
Hiawatha wrestled together for the last time. They wrestled after
evening had come upon them, until at last Hiawatha threw Mondamin to the
ground, who lay there as if dead.
Then Hiawatha took off all the gay green clothes that Mondamin wore, and
he buried Mondamin and made the ground soft and light above the grave,
just as he had been told to do. He kept the weeds from growing in the
ground, and kept the ravens from coming to the place, until at last he
saw a tiny little green leaf sticking up out of the grave. The little
leaf grew into a large plant, taller than Hiawatha himself, and the
plant had wonderful green leaves and silky yellow fringes and gay
tassels that waved behind it in the wind. "It is Mondamin!" cried out
Hiawatha, and he called Nokomis and Iagoo to see the wonderful plant
that was to be the food that he had prayed for to the Great Manito.
They waited until autumn had turned the leaves to yellow, and made the
tender kernels hard and shiny, and then they stripped the husks and
gathered the ears of the wonderful Indian corn. All the Indians for
miles around had a great feast and were happy, because they knew that
with a little care they would have corn to eat in winter and in summer,
in autumn and in spring.
VI
HIAWATHA'S FRIENDS
HIAWATHA had two good friends, whom he had chosen from all other Indians
to be with him always, and whom he loved more than any living men. They
were Chibiabos, the sweetest singer, and Kwasind, the strongest man in
the world; and they told to Hiawatha all their secrets as he told his
to them. Best of all Hiawatha loved the brave and beautiful Chibiabos,
who was such a wonderful musician that when he sang people flocked from
villages far and near to listen to him, and even the animals and birds
left their dens and nests to hear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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