The
story of Hiawatha
Adapted from Longfellow by Allen Chaffee
Illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
This is a story
about a god of the Indians who predicts that a great child shall be born,
who will bring piece and hope to his people. The child Hiawatha, son of Mudjekeewis
is born and raised by his grandmother, Nokomis. Hiawatha’s mother dies
when he is a baby from a broken heart, as Mudjekeewis leaves her. Nokomis
raises the child into a brave, strong young man who can talk to animals. He
seeks revenge on his father, which ends in peace and on his way home meets
the beautiful young maiden Minnehaha-which means ‘Laughing water’.
Hiawatha returns home to fast and think of a way to feed his people other
than killing animals etc…On the seventh day of not eating, Mondamin
comes to fulfill his prayers. They wrestle for a week and on the last fight
Hiawatha defeats him. Mondamin requests that he be buried stripped of his
clothes underneath a bed of soft light dirt and that no weeds may grow on
top of him. Hiawatha does this and by the end of the summer there were many
fields of corn. Hiawatha builds a canoe for fishing and also defeats the king
of fishes, Nahma. He fights and defeats the evil magician, Pearl-feather and
seeks to find his true love Minnehaha and patch the tribal feud between her
tribe and his. They marry and have a big feast!
About Native-American Stories;
•Creation
stories; Explaining how certain elements of the world begun; such as how the
trees, rivers, day and night were created (Paraphrased from Saxby & Winch;
Some Recurring Patterns in Myth and Literature, Week 1 & 2 readings)
• Contains an element of supernatural themes E.g. being immortal, gods
falling from the sky, talking to animals etc…
• Most Native American tales have a particular setting for example,
their village and surrounding lands ( Paraphrased from Saxby 1997:114-117
and Warner
1994: xviii, Literature lecture, Semester 2, Week 4)
• Illustrations are very traditional according to culture and religion,
including the way the characters are dressed, what they use for hunting e.g.
bow and arrow, peace pipe, feathers etc…
