StoryTitle("caps", "Hiawatha's Childhood") ?>
needs no commendation. Hundreds of thousands of children in our
land know snatches of it It is a child's poem, every line of it. One summer
in Boston more than 50,000 people went to take a peep at the poet's
house. (1807-82.)
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By the shores of Gitche Gumee,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By the shining Big-Sea-Water,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Dark behind it rose the forest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rose the firs with cones upon them;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bright before it beat the water,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Beat the clear and sunny water,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There the wrinkled old Nokomis", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nursed the little Hiawatha,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rocked him in his linden cradle,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bedded soft in moss and rushes,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Safely bound with reindeer sinews;", "") ?>
PagePoem(80, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stilled his fretful wail by saying,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lulled him into slumber, singing,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Ewa-yea! my little owlet!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who is this that lights the wigwam?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With his great eyes lights the wigwam?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ewa-yea! my little owlet!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Many things Nokomis taught him", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of the stars that shine in heaven;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Flaring far away to northward", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In the frosty nights of winter;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Showed the broad, white road in heaven,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Running straight across the heavens,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At the door, on summer evenings,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sat the little Hiawatha;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Heard the whispering of the pine-trees,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Heard the lapping of the water,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sounds of music, words of wonder;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Minnie-wawa!\" said the pine-trees,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Mudway-aushka!\" said the water;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw the fire-fly, Wah-wah-taysee,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Flitting through the dusk of evening,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With the twinkle of its candle", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lighting up the brakes and bushes,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he sang the song of children.", "") ?>
PagePoem(81, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sang the song Nokomis taught him:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Wah-wah-taysee, little fire-fly,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Little, flitting, white-fire insect,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Little, dancing, white-fire creature,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Light me with your little candle,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ere upon my bed I lay me,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ere in sleep I close my eyelids!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw the moon rise from the water", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rippling, rounding from the water,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw the flecks and shadows on it,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Whispered, \"What is that, Nokomis?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the good Nokomis answered:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Once a warrior, very angry,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seized his grandmother, and threw her", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Up into the sky at midnight;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Right against the moon he threw her;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'Tis her body that you see there.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw the rainbow in the heaven,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In the eastern sky, the rainbow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Whispered, \"What is that, Nokomis?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the good Nokomis answered:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Tis the heaven of flowers you see there;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All the wild-flowers of the forest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All the lilies of the prairie,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When on earth they fade and perish,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Blossom in that heaven above us.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When he heard the owls at midnight,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Hooting, laughing in the forest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"What is that?\" he cried, in terror;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"What is that,\" he said, \"Nokomis?\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(82, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the good Nokomis answered:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"That is but the owl and owlet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Talking in their native language,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Talking, scolding at each other.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then the little Hiawatha", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Learned of every bird its language,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Learned their names and all their secrets,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How they built their nests in summer,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Where they hid themselves in winter,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Talked with them whene'er he met them,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Called them \"Hiawatha's Chickens.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of all beasts he learned the language,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Learned their names and all their secrets,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How the beavers built their lodges,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Where the squirrels hid their acorns,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How the reindeer ran so swiftly,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Why the rabbit was so timid,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Talked with them whene'er he met them,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Called them \"Hiawatha's Brothers.\"", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("100", SmallCapsText("Henry W. Longfellow.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>