"Not so long and wide the world is,
Not so rude and rough the way is,
That my wrath shall not attain him,
That my vengeance shall not reach him!"
Over rock and over river,

Through bush, and brake, and forest,
Ran the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis;
Like an antelope he bounded,
Till he came unto a streamlet
In the middle of the forest,
To a streamlet still and tranquil,
That had overflowed its margin,
To a dam made by the beavers,
To a pond of quiet water,

Where knee-deep the trees were standing,
Where the water lilies floated,

Where the rushes waved and whispered.

On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis,
On the dam of trunks and branches,
Through whose chinks the water spouted,
O'er whose summit flowed the streamlet.
From the bottom rose a beaver,
Looked with two great eyes of wonder,
Eyes that seemed to ask a question,
At the stranger, Pau-Puk-Keewis.

On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis,
O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet,

Flowed the bright and silvery water,
And he spake unto the beaver,
With a smile he spake in this wise:

"O my friend Ahmeek, the beaver,
Cool and pleasant is the water,
Let me rest there in your lodges;
Change me, too, into a beaver!"

"Yes!" replied Ahmeek, the beaver,
He the King of all the beavers,
"Let yourself slide down among us,
Down into the tranquil water."

Down into the pond among them
Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis;
Black became his shirt of deerskin,
Black his moccasins and leggings,

In a broad black tail behind him
Spread his foxtails and his fringes;
He was changed into a beaver.

"Make me large," said Pau-Puk-Keewis,
"Make me large and make me larger,
Larger than the other beavers."
"Yes," the beaver chief responded,
"When our lodge below you enter,
In our wigwam we will make you
Ten times larger than the others."

Thus into the clear, brown water Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis;

Found the bottom covered over

With the trunks of trees and branches,
Hoards of food against the winter,
Piles and heaps against the famine,
Found the lodge with arching doorway,
Leading into spacious chambers.

Here they made him large and larger,
Made him largest of the beavers,
Ten times larger than the others.
"You shall be our ruler," said they;
"Chief and king of all the beavers."

But not long had Pau-Puk-Keewis
Sat in state among the beavers,
When there came a voice of warning
From the watchman at his station
In the water flags and lilies,
Saying, "Here is Hiawatha!"

Then they heard a cry above them,
Heard a shouting and a tramping,
Heard a crashing and a rushing,
And the water round and o'er them
Sank and sucked away in eddies,

And they knew their dam was broken.

On the lodge's roof the hunters

Leaped, and broke it all asunder;

Streamed the sunshine through the crevice,
Sprang the beavers through the doorway,

5

10

15

With their clubs they beat and bruised him,

Beat to death poor Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Pounded him as maize is pounded,

Till his skull was crushed to pieces.

Six tall hunters, lithe and limber,
Bore him home on poles and branches,
Bore the body of the beaver;
But the ghost, the Jeebi in him,
Thought and felt as Pau-Puk-Keewis,
Still lived on as Pau-Puk-Keewis.

And it fluttered, strove and struggled,
Waving hither, waving thither,
As the curtains of a wigwam

Struggle with their thongs of deerskin,
When the wintry wind is blowing;
Till it drew itself together,

Till it rose up from the body,

Till it took the form and features
Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis
Vanishing into the forest.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW: The Song of Hiawatha.

mis de mean'ors, evil deeds; re sent'ment, grief and anger; brake, thicket; spa'cious, large, roomy; maize, corn; lithe and limber, slender and easily bending.

Describe a beaver's dam that you have seen or read about. What do you learn about the habits of the beaver from this poem? Find out all else that you can about beavers.

Subject and Predicate.

Give first the complete subject, then the

simple subject, of the following sentences:

1. Longfellow wrote the poem of Hiawatha.
2. I will slay this Pau-Puk-Keewis.
3. Hiawatha departed in swift pursuit.

4. The sullen clouds scud across the sky.

5. The light of a hundred glowworms shone amidst the grass. 6. The wandering bee hums merrily by.

7. I love the smell of the warm earth.

8. The broad bright moon sails over us.

9. Under a spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands. 10. The ground squirrel gayly chirps by his den.

Read all the complete predicates; then underline the simple predicates.

Sentence Study. Read the following sentences until you are sure you know their meaning; then write them in your own words. Compare each of your sentences with the corresponding printed one. Which do you like the better? Which brings the more beautiful picture to mind?