Chapter V: Act III: Hiawatha’s Wooing,

TRIBE OF OJIBWAYS.

Scene First. Hiawatha’s Discussion with Nokomis and Departure.

_Scenery_:

_Same as Act II. This is supposed to be the TRIBE and
land of THE OJIBWAYS. Showing the INTERIOR of the
TEPEE of Old NOKOMIS. HIAWATHA; (tall, straight,
of majestic figure, commanding aspect, dashing
and handsome,) is seen shaping an arrow to fit a
bow. NOKOMIS; a majestic Indian woman as befits
HIAWATHA’S grandmother, sits making a robe of deer
skin or work of like kind. HIAWATHA sits working,
thinking, pondering._

_Description of Hiawatha_:

Out of childhood into manhood
Now had grown my Hiawatha.
Skilled in all the craft of hunters,
Learned in all the lore of old men,
In all youthful sports and pastimes,
In manly arts and labors.
Swift of foot was Hiawatha;
He could shoot an arrow from him,
And run forward with such fleetness,
That the arrow fell behind him!
Strong of arm was Hiawatha;
He could shoot ten arrows upward,
Shoot them with such strength and swiftness,
That the tenth had left the bow-string
Ere the first to earth had fallen!
He had mittens, Minjekahwun,
Magic mittens made of deer-skin;
When upon his hands he wore them,
He could smite the rocks asunder
He could grind them into powder.
He had moccasins enchanted,
Magic moccasins of deer-skin:
When he bound them round his ankles,
When upon his feet he tied them,
At each stride a mile he measured!

_Hiawatha_; (_speaking meditatively_):

As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman,
Though she bends him, she obeys him,
Though she draws him, yet she follows,
Useless each without the other!

_Nokomis_; (_in a warning and dissuading voice_):

Wed a maiden of your people,
Go not eastward, go not westward,
For a stranger, whom we know not!
Like a fire upon the hearth-stone
Is a neighbor’s homely daughter,
Like the starlight or the moonlight
Is the handsomest of strangers!

_Hiawatha_; (_persuadingly_):

Dear old Nokomis,
Very pleasant is the firelight.
But I like the starlight better,
Better do I like the moonlight!

_Nokomis_; (_gravely_):

Bring not here an idle maiden,
Bring not here a useless woman,
Hands unskillful, feet unwilling;
Bring a wife with nimble fingers,
Heart and hand that move together,
Feet that run on willing errands!

_Hiawatha_, (_Smiling_):

In the land of the Dacotahs
Lives the Arrow-maker’s daughter,
Minnehaha, Laughing water,
Handsomest of all the women.
I will bring her to your wigwam,
She shall run upon your errands,
Be your starlight, moonlight, firelight,
Be the sunlight of my people!

_Nokomis_, (_still dissuading_):

Bring not to my lodge a stranger
From the land of the Dacotahs!
Very fierce are the Dacotahs,
Often is there war between us.
There are feuds yet unforgotten,
Wounds that ache and still may open!

_Hiawatha_, (_laughing_):

For that reason, if no other,
Would I wed the fair Dacotah,
That our tribes might be united,
That old feuds might be forgotten,
And old wounds be healed forever!

_During this conversation HIAWATHA stops his work and
prepares for his journey, OLD NOKOMIS becoming more
and more earnest and entreating as his preparations
proceed: when he goes, she follows and tries to
detain him, then watches him out of sight, and the
curtain falls while she stands alone, weeping,
despondent and sorrowing at the door of her wigwam._

_Description of Hiawatha_:

Dressed for travel, armed for hunting;
Dressed in deer-skin shirt and leggings,
Richly wrought with quills and wampum;
On his head his eagle-feathers.
Round his waist his belt of wampum,
In his hand his bow of ash-wood,
Strung with sinews of the reindeer;
In his quiver oaken arrows,
Tipped with jasper, winged with feathers;
With his mittens, Minjekahwun,
With his moccasins enchanted.

_Act, Hiawatha_:

Thus departed Hiawatha
To the land of the Dacotahs,
To the land of handsome women;

_Act, Nokomis_:

Homeward weeping went Nokomis
Sorrowing for her Hiawatha.