So Nokomis told Hiawatha all the stories that little Indian children hear

from their parents.

Hiawatha had no books but Mother Nature's Reader; and the only lessons he had to learn were of the beautiful things in the woods, and streams, and skies. He

"Learned of every bird its language,

Learned their names and all their secrets,
How they built their nests in summer,
Where they hid themselves in winter,
Talked with them whene'er he met them,
Called them 'Hiawatha's Chickens.'

"Of all beasts he learned the language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How the beavers built their lodges,
Where the squirrels hid their acorns,
How the reindeer ran so swiftly,

Why the rabbit was so timid,

Talked with them whene'er he met them,

Called them 'Hiawatha's Brothers.""

Definitions. — Lodges, beaver houses.

Lulled, quieted, soothed. Linden, made of a soft wood called bass - wood. Sinews, cords of the body. Wail, moaning cry.

Spell: rabbit, owlet, linden, lodges, candle, cradle, twinkle, beaver, village, wrinkled, reindeer, sinews, lilies, squirrel, lulled. Ask your teacher what lake is meant by "Big - Sea - Water."

enough to

When Hiawatha was old

hunt, Iagoo, a friend of old Nokomis,

made him a bow;

“From a branch of ash he made it,

From an oak bough made the arrows,

Tipped with flint, and winged with feathers,

And the cord he made of deer-skin."

Then he said to Hiawatha,

"Go, my son, into the forest,

Kill for us a deer with antlers!'

"Forth into the forest straightway
All alone walked Hiawatha,
Proudly, with his bow and arrows;
And the birds sang round him, o'er him,
'Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!'

66

Sang the robin, the Opechee,
Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa,
Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!'

Up the oak-tree, close beside him,
Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo,
In and out among the branches,

Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree,
Laughed, and said between his laughing,
'Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!'

"And the rabbit, from his pathway,
Leaped aside, and at a distance
Sat erect upon his haunches,
Half in fear and half in frolic,
Saying to the little hunter,
'Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!"

So Hiawatha grew

"Skilled in all the craft of hunters,
Learned in all the lore of old men,
In all youthful sports and pastimes,
In all manly acts and labors."

He could shoot an arrow from him, and then run forward so fast that the arrow fell far behind him, or

"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 made of deer-skin,
When upon his hands he put them,
He could smite the rocks asunder,
He could grind them into powder.
He had moccasins enchanted,
When upon his feet he tied them,

At each stride a mile he measured."

He was more beautiful than any Indian that had ever lived before, and every one

loved him because he was so grave and yet so gentle.

It was a fine sight to see him dressed for hunting, in deer-skin shirt and leggins, richly trimmed with quills and shells, with his enchanted moccasins and mittens, and with eagle feathers on his head.

I might write pages, telling what Hiawatha did; telling about his great battle with the West Wind; about his two friends, one the sweetest of all singers, and the other the strongest man in the world; about his wife, the lovely Minnehaha, and the songs and stories of their wedding - feast; of the picturewriting that he taught the Indians, and of his leaving his people at last, and sailing westward into the sunset; but you must read it all for yourselves in Longfellow's beautiful poem of "Hiawatha."

Definitions. Antlers, the long branching horns of a deer. Erect, straight up. Craft, ways. Lore, learning. Pastimes, amusements. Enchanted, under the power of fairies. Moccasins, shoes made of some soft leather and having no sole; worn by Indians. Grave, serious.

Spell: arrows, straight, walked, coughed, laugh, bough, moccasins, leggins, quills, eagle, taught.

What is meant by the "craft of hunters"? By the "lore of old men"? By Hiawatha's being "so grave and yet so gentle "?