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Full of wrath was Hiawatha
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When he came into the village,
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Found the people in confusion,
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Heard of all the misdemeanors,
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All the malice and the mischief,
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Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis.
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Hard his breath came through his nostrils,
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Through his teeth he buzzed and muttered
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Words of anger and resentment,
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Hot and humming, like a hornet.
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"I will slay this Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Slay this mischief-maker!" said he.
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"Not so long and wide the world is,
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Not so rude and rough the way is,
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That my wrath shall not attain him,
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That my vengeance shall not reach him!"
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Then in swift pursuit departed
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Hiawatha and the hunters
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On the trail of Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Through the forest, where he passed it,
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To the headlands where he rested;
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But they found not Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Only in the trampled grasses,
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In the whortleberry-bushes,
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Found the couch where he had rested,
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Found the impress of his body.
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From the lowlands far beneath them,
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From the Muskoday, the meadow,
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Pau-Puk-Keewis, turning backward,
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Made a gesture of defiance,
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Made a gesture of derision;
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And aloud cried Hiawatha,
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From the summit of the mountains:
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"Not so long and wide the world is,
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Not so rude and rough the way is,
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But my wrath shall overtake you,
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And my vengeance shall attain you!"
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Over rock and over river,
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Through bush, and brake, and forest,
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Ran the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis;
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Like an antelope he bounded,
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Till he came unto a streamlet
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In the middle of the forest,
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To a streamlet still and tranquil,
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That had overflowed its margin,
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To a dam made by the beavers,
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To a pond of quiet water,
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Where knee-deep the trees were standing,
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Where the water lilies floated,
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Where the rushes waved and whispered.
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On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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On the dam of trunks and branches,
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Through whose chinks the water spouted,
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O'er whose summit flowed the streamlet.
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From the bottom rose the beaver,
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Looked with two great eyes of wonder,
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Eyes that seemed to ask a question,
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At the stranger, Pau-Puk-Keewis.
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On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet,
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Flowed the bright and silvery water,
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And he spake unto the beaver,
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With a smile he spake in this wise:
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"O my friend Ahmeek, the beaver,
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Cool and pleasant is the water;
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Let me dive into the water,
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Let me rest there in your lodges;
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Change me, too, into a beaver!"
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Cautiously replied the beaver,
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With reserve he thus made answer:
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"Let me first consult the others,
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Let me ask the other beavers."
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Down he sank into the water,
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Heavily sank he, as a stone sinks,
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Down among the leaves and branches,
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Brown and matted at the bottom.
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On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet,
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Spouted through the chinks below him,
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Dashed upon the stones beneath him,
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Spread serene and calm before him,
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And the sunshine and the shadows
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Fell in flecks and gleams upon him,
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Fell in little shining patches,
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Through the waving, rustling branches.
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From the bottom rose the beavers,
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Silently above the surface
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Rose one head and then another,
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Till the pond seemed full of beavers,
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Full of black and shining faces.
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To the beavers Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Spake entreating, said in this wise:
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"Very pleasant is your dwelling,
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O my friends! and safe from danger;
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Can you not, with all your cunning,
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All your wisdom and contrivance,
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Change me, too, into a beaver?"
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"Yes!" replied Ahmeek, the beaver,
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He the King of all the beavers,
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"Let yourself slide down among us,
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Down into the tranquil water."
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Down into the pond among them
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Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis;
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Black became his shirt of deer-skin,
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Black his moccasins and leggings,
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In a broad black tail behind him
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Spread his fox-tails and his fringes;
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He was changed into a beaver.
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"Make me large," said Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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"Make me large and make me larger,
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Larger than the other beavers."
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"Yes," the beaver chief responded,
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"When our lodge below you enter,
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In our wigwam we will make you
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Ten times larger than the others."
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Thus into the clear, brown water
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Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis:
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Found the bottom covered over
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With the trunks of trees and branches,
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Hoards of food against the winter,
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Piles and heaps against the famine;
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Found the lodge with arching doorway,
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Leading into spacious chambers.
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Here they made him large and larger,
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Made him largest of the beavers,
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Ten times larger than the others.
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"You shall be our ruler," said they;
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"Chief and King of all the beavers."
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But not long had Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Sat in state among the beavers,
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When there came a voice of warning
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From the watchman at his station
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In the water-flags and lilies,
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Saying, "Here Is Hiawatha!
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Hiawatha with his hunters!"
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Then they heard a cry above them,
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Heard a shouting and a tramping,
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Heard a crashing and a rushing,
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And the water round and o'er them
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Sank and sucked away in eddies,
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And they knew their dam was broken.
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On the lodge's roof the hunters
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Leaped, and broke it all asunder;
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Streamed the sunshine through the crevice,
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Sprang the beavers through the doorway,
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Hid themselves in deeper water,
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In the channel of the streamlet;
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But the mighty Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Could not pass beneath the doorway;
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He was puffed with pride and feeding,
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He was swollen like a bladder.
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Through the roof looked Hiawatha,
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Cried aloud, "O Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Vain are all your craft and cunning,
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Vain your manifold disguises!
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Well I know you, Pau-Puk-Keewis!"
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With their clubs they beat and bruised him,
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Beat to death poor Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Pounded him as maize is pounded,
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Till his skull was crushed to pieces.
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Six tall hunters, lithe and limber,
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Bore him home on poles and branches,
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Bore the body of the beaver;
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But the ghost, the Jeebi in him,
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Thought and felt as Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Still lived on as Pau-Puk-Keewis.
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And it fluttered, strove, and struggled,
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Waving hither, waving thither,
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As the curtains of a wigwam
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Struggle with their thongs of deer-skin,
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When the wintry wind is blowing;
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Till it drew itself together,
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Till it rose up from the body,
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Till it took the form and features
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Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Vanishing into the forest.
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But the wary Hiawatha
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Saw the figure ere it vanished,
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Saw the form of Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Glide into the soft blue shadow
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Of the pine-trees of the forest;
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Toward the squares of white beyond it,
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Toward an opening in the forest.
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Like a wind it rushed and panted,
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Bending all the boughs before it,
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And behind it, as the rain comes,
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Came the steps of Hiawatha.
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To a lake with many islands
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Came the breathless Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Where among the water-lilies
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Pishnekuh, the brant, were sailing;
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Through the tufts of rushes floating,
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Steering through the reedy islands.
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Now their broad black beaks they lifted,
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Now they plunged beneath the water,
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Now they darkened in the shadow,
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Now they brightened in the sunshine.
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"Pishnekuh!" cried Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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"Pishnekuh! my brothers!" said he,
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"Change me to a brant with plumage,
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With a shining neck and feathers,
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Make me large, and make me larger,
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Ten times larger than the others."
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Straightway to a brant they changed him,
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With two huge and dusky pinions,
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With a bosom smooth and rounded,
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With a bill like two great paddles,
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Made him larger than the others,
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Ten times larger than the largest,
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Just as, shouting from the forest,
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On the shore stood Hiawatha.
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Up they rose with cry and clamor,
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With a whir and beat of pinions,
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Rose up from the reedy Islands,
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From the water-flags and lilies.
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And they said to Pau-Puk-Keewis:
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"In your flying, look not downward,
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Take good heed and look not downward,
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Lest some strange mischance should happen,
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Lest some great mishap befall you!"
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Fast and far they fled to northward,
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Fast and far through mist and sunshine,
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Fed among the moors and fen-lands,
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Slept among the reeds and rushes.
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On the morrow as they journeyed,
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Buoyed and lifted by the South-wind,
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Wafted onward by the South-wind,
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Blowing fresh and strong behind them,
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Rose a sound of human voices,
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Rose a clamor from beneath them,
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From the lodges of a village,
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From the people miles beneath them.
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For the people of the village
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Saw the flock of brant with wonder,
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Saw the wings of Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Flapping far up in the ether,
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Broader than two doorway curtains.
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Pau-Puk-Keewis heard the shouting,
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Knew the voice of Hiawatha,
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Knew the outcry of Iagoo,
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And, forgetful of the warning,
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Drew his neck in, and looked downward,
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And the wind that blew behind him
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Caught his mighty fan of feathers,
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Sent him wheeling, whirling downward!
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All in vain did Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Struggle to regain his balance!
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Whirling round and round and downward,
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He beheld in turn the village
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And in turn the flock above him,
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Saw the village coming nearer,
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And the flock receding farther,
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Heard the voices growing louder,
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Heard the shouting and the laughter;
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Saw no more the flocks above him,
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Only saw the earth beneath him;
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Dead out of the empty heaven,
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Dead among the shouting people,
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With a heavy sound and sullen,
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Fell the brant with broken pinions.
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But his soul, his ghost, his shadow,
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Still survived as Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Took again the form and features
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Of the handsome Yenadizze,
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And again went rushing onward,
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Followed fast by Hiawatha,
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Crying: "Not so wide the world is,
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Not so long and rough the way is,
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But my wrath shall overtake you,
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But my vengeance shall attain you!"
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And so near he came, so near him,
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That his hand was stretched to seize him,
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His right hand to seize and hold him,
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When the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Whirled and spun about in circles,
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Fanned the air into a whirlwind,
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Danced the dust and leaves about him,
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And amid the whirling eddies
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Sprang into a hollow oak-tree,
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Changed himself into a serpent,
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Gliding out through root and rubbish.
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With his right hand Hiawatha
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Smote amain the hollow oak-tree,
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Rent it into shreds and splinters,
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Left it lying there in fragments.
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But in vain; for Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Once again in human figure,
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Full in sight ran on before him,
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Sped away in gust and whirlwind,
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On the shores of Gitche Gumee,
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Westward by the Big-Sea-Water,
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Came unto the rocky headlands,
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To the Pictured Rocks of sandstone,
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Looking over lake and landscape.
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And the Old Man of the Mountain,
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He the Manito of Mountains,
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Opened wide his rocky doorways,
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Opened wide his deep abysses,
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Giving Pau-Puk-Keewis shelter
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In his caverns dark and dreary,
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Bidding Pau-Puk-Keewis welcome
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To his gloomy lodge of sandstone.
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There without stood Hiawatha,
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Found the doorways closed against him,
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With his mittens, Minjekahwun,
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Smote great caverns in the sandstone,
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Cried aloud in tones of thunder,
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"Open! I am Hiawatha!"
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But the Old Man of the Mountain
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Opened not, and made no answer
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From the silent crags of sandstone,
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From the gloomy rock abysses.
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Then he raised his hands to heaven,
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Called imploring on the tempest,
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Called Waywassimo, the lightning,
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And the thunder, Annemeekee;
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And they came with night and darkness,
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Sweeping down the Big-Sea-Water
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From the distant Thunder Mountains;
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And the trembling Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Heard the footsteps of the thunder,
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Saw the red eyes of the lightning,
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Was afraid, and crouched and trembled.
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Then Waywassimo, the lightning,
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Smote the doorways of the caverns,
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With his war-club smote the doorways,
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Smote the jutting crags of sandstone,
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And the thunder, Annemeekee,
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Shouted down into the caverns,
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Saying, "Where is Pau-Puk-Keewis!"
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And the crags fell, and beneath them
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Dead among the rocky ruins
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Lay the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Lay the handsome Yenadizze,
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Slain in his own human figure.
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Ended were his wild adventures,
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Ended were his tricks and gambols,
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Ended all his craft and cunning,
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Ended all his mischief-making,
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All his gambling and his dancing,
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All his wooing of the maidens.
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Then the noble Hiawatha
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Took his soul, his ghost, his shadow,
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Spake and said: "O Pau-Puk-Keewis,
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Never more in human figure
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Shall you search for new adventures;
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Never more with jest and laughter
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Dance the dust and leaves in whirlwinds;
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But above there in the heavens
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You shall soar and sail in circles;
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I will change you to an eagle,
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To Keneu, the great war-eagle,
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Chief of all the fowls with feathers,
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Chief of Hiawatha's chickens."
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And the name of Pau-Puk-Keewis
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Lingers still among the people,
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Lingers still among the singers,
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And among the story-tellers;
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And in Winter, when the snow-flakes
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Whirl in eddies round the lodges,
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When the wind in gusty tumult
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O'er the smoke-flue pipes and whistles,
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"There," they cry, "comes Pau-Puk-Keewis;
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He is dancing through the village,
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