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(From The Song of Hiawatha)
THEN the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis, | |
| He the idle Yenadizze, | |
| He the merry mischief-maker, | |
| Whom the people called the Storm-Fool, | |
| Rose among the guests assembled. | 5 |
| Skilled was he in sports and pastimes, | |
| In the merry dance of snow-shoes, | |
| In the play of quoits and ball-play; | |
| Skilled was he in games of hazard, | |
| In all games of skill and hazard, | 10 |
| Pugasaing, the Bowl and Counters, | |
| Kuntassoo, the Game of Plum-stones. | |
| Though the warriors called him Faint-Heart, | |
| Called him coward, Shaugodaya, | |
| Idler, gambler, Yenadizze, | 15 |
| Little heeded he their jesting, | |
| Little cared he for their insults, | |
| For the women and the maidens | |
| Loved the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis. | |
| He was dressed in shirt of doeskin, | 20 |
| White and soft, and fringed with ermine, | |
| All inwrought with beads of wampum; | |
| He was dressed in deer-skin leggings, | |
| Fringed with hedgehog quills and ermine, | |
| And in moccasins of buck-skin, | 25 |
| Thick with quills and beads embroidered. | |
| On his head were plumes of swan’s down, | |
| On his heels were tails of foxes, | |
| In one hand a fan of feathers, | |
| And a pipe was in the other. | 30 |
| Barred with streaks of red and yellow, | |
| Streaks of blue and bright vermilion, | |
| Shone the face of Pau-Puk-Keewis. | |
| From his forehead fell his tresses, | |
| Smooth, and parted like a woman’s, | 35 |
| Shining bright with oil, and plaited, | |
| Hung with braids of scented grasses, | |
| As among the guests assembled, | |
| To the sound of flutes and singing, | |
| To the sound of drums and voices, | 40 |
| Rose the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis, | |
| And began his mystic dances. | |
| First he danced a solemn measure, | |
| Very slow in step and gesture, | |
| In and out among the pine-trees, | 45 |
| Through the shadows and the sunshine, | |
| Treading softly like a panther, | |
| Then more swiftly and still swifter, | |
| Whirling, spinning round in circles, | |
| Leaping o’er the guests assembled, | 50 |
| Eddying round and round the wigwam, | |
| Till the leaves went whirling with him, | |
| Till the dust and wind together | |
| Swept in eddies round about him. | |
| Then along the sandy margin | 55 |
| Of the lake, the Big-Sea-Water, | |
| On he sped with frenzied gestures, | |
| Stamped upon the sand, and tossed it | |
| Wildly in the air around him; | |
| Till the wind became a whirlwind, | 60 |
| Till the sand was blown and sifted | |
| Like great snowdrifts o’er the landscape, | |
| Heaping all the shores with Sand Dunes, | |
| Sand Hills of the Nagow Wudjoo! | |
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