36 III. 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 Downward through the evening twilight, On the Muskoday, the meadow, On the prairie full of blossoms. "See! a star falls!" said the people ; "From the sky a star is falling!" There among the ferns and mosses, In the moonlight and the starlight, And she called her name Wenonah, And Nokomis warned her often, Saying oft, and oft repeating, “O, beware of Mudjekeewis, Of the West-Wind, Mudjekeewis ; Lie not down upon the meadow, Stoop not down among the lilies, Lest the West-Wind come and harm you!” Whispering to the leaves and blossoms, Lying there among the lilies, Wooed her with his words of sweetness, Wooed her with his soft caresses, Till she bore a son in sorrow, Bore a son of love and sorrow. Thus was born my Hiawatha, Thus was born the child of wonder; But the daughter of Nokomis, Hiawatha's gentle mother, In her anguish died deserted By the West-Wind, false and faithless, By the heartless Mudjekeewis. For her daughter, long and loudly Wailed and wept the sad Nokomis ; No more work, and no more weeping, By the shores of Gitche Gumee, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, 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, Safely bound with reindeer sinews; "Ewa-yea! my little owlet! Who is this, that lights the wigwam? With his great eyes lights the wigwam? Ewa-yea! my little owlet!" Many things Nokomis taught him Of the stars that shine in heaven; Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet, Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses; Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits, Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs, Flaring far away to northward |