TGT Desk
In the full moon, long ago, a beautiful girl called Nokomis was swinging in a swing of grape-vines and playing with her women. One of her friends cut the swing, and Nokomis fell on the earth. She was so fair and bright that when she fell, she seemed to be a star flashing downward through the air. So the Indians cried out: “See, a star is dropping to the meadow!”
There on the meadow, a daughter was born to Nokomis. She called her daughter Wenonah. The daughter grew into a sweet maiden, purer than the light of any star.
Wenonah was so beautiful that the West-wind, whom they called Mudjekeewis, came and fell in love with her. Soon they were married. But then, Mudjekeewis left her and went away, and never returned. Wenonah gave birth to a son alone. She called her son Hiawatha.
Sad Wenonah died soon after Hiawatha was born. The infant Hiawatha, without father or mother, was taken to Nokomis’ hut, which stood beside a shining lake called “The Big-Sea-Water.”
There he lived and was nursed by his grandmother, Nokomis. She also taught him the language of the birds and the animals. Soon, Hiawatha learned their languages. He learned so much that he could talk to them just as if he were a bird or animal himself. He called them “Hiawatha’s brothers.”
Nokomis had a friend called Iagoo the Boaster, because he told so many stories about great deeds that he had never done. This Iagoo once made a bow for Hiawatha, and said to him: “Take this bow, and go into the forest hunting. Kill a fine deer and bring us back his horns.”
So Hiawatha went into the forest all alone with his bow and arrows. But since he knew the language of the wild things he could tell what all the birds and animals were saying to him. “Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!” said the robins; and the squirrels ran in fear up the trunks of the trees, coughing and chattering: “Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!” But for once Hiawatha did not care or even hear what the birds and beasts were saying to him.
At last he saw the tracks of a red deer. He followed them to the river bank, where he hid among the bushes and waited until two antlers rose above the thicket. A fine deer stepped out into the path. Hiawatha’s heart beat quickly and he rose to one knee and aimed his arrow. “Twang!” went the bowstring, and the buck leaped high into the air and fell down dead, with the arrow in his heart.
Hiawatha dragged the deer that he had killed back to the wigwam of Nokomis. Nokomis and Iagoo were much pleased. From the buck-skin they made a fine cloak for Hiawatha. They hung up the antlers in the wigwam, and invited everybody in the village to a feast of the deer’s flesh. The Indians all came and feasted, and called Hiawatha “Strong Heart.”
The years passed, and Hiawatha grew from a child into a strong and active man. He was such a fine hunter that he never missed his aim.
Hiawatha thought a great deal about his father, Mudjekeewis, and often plagued Nokomis with questions about him. At last she told Hiawatha how his mother had loved Mudjekeewis, who left her to die of sorrow. Hiawatha was so angry when he heard the story. Hi heart felt like a coal of fire. He said to Nokomis: “I will talk with Mudjekeewis, my father, and to find him I will go to the Land of the Sunset, where he has his kingdom.”
So Hiawatha dressed himself for travel and armed himself with bow and a war-club. He also put on his magic gloves, that gave him great powers and set out all alone to travel to the kingdom of the West-wind. Although Nokomis called after him and begged him to turn back, he would not listen to her, but went away into the forest.
For days and days he travelled. He passed the Mississippi River. He crossed the grasslands where the buffaloes were herding. When he crossed the Rocky Mountains, where the panther and the grizzly bear had their homes, he reached the Land of the Sunset, and the kingdom of the West-wind. There he found his father, Mudjekeewis.
When Hiawatha saw his father he was terribly afraid. His father’s hair was cloudy. It tossed and waved in the air. It flashed like the star we call the comet, that shoots with streams of fire through the sky. But when Mudjekeewis saw what a strong and handsome man his son had grown to be, he was proud and happy. He knew that Hiawatha had all of his own early strength and all the beauty of the dead Wenonah.
“Welcome, my son,” said Mudjekeewis, “to the kingdom of the West-wind. I have waited for you many years, and have grown very lonely.” And Mudjekeewis and Hiawatha talked long together. But all the while, Hiawatha was thinking of his dead mother and the wrong that had been done to her. And so, he became more and more angry.
He hid his anger, however, and listened to what Mudjekeewis told him. Mudjekeewis boasted of his own early bravery. His told, his body was so tough that nobody could do him any harm.
“Can nothing hurt you?” asked Hiawatha
Mudjekeewis said, “Nothing but the black rock there.” Then he smiled at Hiawatha and said, “Is there anything that can harm you, my son?”
Hiawatha, who did not wish Mudjekeewis to know that nothing in the world could do him injury, told him that only the bulrush had such power.
Then they talked about other things – of Hiawatha’s brothers and finally about the beautiful Wenonah, Hiawatha’s mother. Then Hiawatha cried out in fury, “Though you are my father, you killed Wenonah!”
Hiawatha at once stuck the black rock with his magic gloves. The rock broke it into pieces. He threw them at Mudjekeewis, but Mudjekeewis blew them back with his breath. Remembering what Hiawatha had said about the bulrushes, he tore them up from the mud, roots and all, and used them as a whip to lash his son.
Thus began the fearful fight between Hiawatha and his father, Mudjekeewis. The eagle left his nest and circled in the air above them as they fought. The bulrush bent and waved like a tall tree in a storm. Great pieces of the black rock crashed upon the earth. Three days the fight continued, and Mudjekeewis was driven back – back to the end of the world.
“Stop!” cried Mudjekeewis, “stop, Hiawatha! You cannot kill me. I have put you to this test to learn how brave you are. Now I will give you a great prize. Go back to your home and people, and kill all the monsters, and all the giants and the serpents, as I killed the great bear when I was young. At last when you grow old, I will give you a part of my kingdom and you shall be ruler of the North-west wind.”
Then the battle ended long ago among the mountains.
(Based on an Iroquois legendary story)