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He might pass the black pitch water.
All night long he sailed upon it,
Sailed upon that sluggish water,
Covered with its mold of ages,
Black with rotting water rushes,
Rank with flags and leaves of lilies,
Stagnant, lifeless, dreary, dismal,
Lighted by the shimmering moonlight,
And by will-o'-the-wisps illumined,
Fires by ghosts of dead men kindled,
In their weary night encampments.
Westward thus fared Hiawatha,
Toward the realm of Megissogwon,
Toward the land of the Pearl-Feather,
Till the level moon stared at him,
In his face stared pale and haggard,
Till the sun was hot behind him,
Till it burned upon his shoulders,
And before him on the upland
He could see the Shining Wigwam
Of the Manito of Wampum,

Of the mightiest of Magicians.

Then once more Cheemaun he patted,
To his birch canoe said, "Onward!"
And it stirred in all its fibers,

And with one great bound of triumph
Leaped across the water lilies,

Leaped through tangled flags and rushes,
And upon the beach beyond them
Dry-shod landed Hiawatha.

Straight he took his bow of ash tree,
On the sand one end he rested,

With his knee he pressed the middle,

Stretched the faithful bowstring tighter,
Took an arrow, jasper-headed,
Shot it at the Shining Wigwam,

Sent it singing as a herald,

As a bearer of his message,

Of his challenge loud and lofty:

"Come forth from your lodge, Pearl-Feather!
Hiawatha waits your coming!"

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW: The Song of Hiawatha.

Man'i to, god; wam'pum, Indian money, made of shells; wiles, tricks; fen'lands, swamp lands; jas'per, a hard and precious stone; war gear, war-dress; ex ul'ting, rejoicing.

1. Who was Hiawatha? Who was Pearl-Feather? 2. What body of water is meant by Gitche Gumee? 3. At what time of day does this story open? 4. What "bloody footprints" are referred to in the fourteenth line? 5. Why did Nokomis wish Hiawatha to slay Pearl-Feather? 6. Why did the Indians make their bows of wood of the ash tree? 7. What was the advantage of having arrows jasper-headed? 8. Give the meaning of line 6, page 347, in your own words. 9. What is the Indian custom of declaring war? Read the lines that describe Hiawatha's declaration of war.

Sentence Study. -1. Read the first ten lines. To what does Longfellow compare the setting sun? What other comparison

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could you make? Find some other comparisons in this same

poem.

2. Make sentences using the following comparisons:

Like a golden ball, as a lion, like a bird, as a feather, like velvet, as a bell, like the roar of the sea, like a pearl, like a wild rose, as a serpent.

Subject and Predicate.

The noble Hiawatha sang his war song.

What is the subject of this sentence? What is the predicate? Draw a vertical line between them. Which of the words in the subject is necessary to the sense of the sentence? Which in the predicate? Read the necessary word of the subject with the necessary word of the predicate, and see if the two together make sense. -The necessary word in the complete subject is called the simple subject.

Rule.

The necessary word or words in the complete predicate are called the simple predicate.

I. Strike out all the unnecessary words in the following complete subjects, leaving only the simple subjects. Then write each simple subject with its predicate, and see if the words taken together make sense.

1. The cool wind blows. 2. The babbling little brook flows. 3. The brown autumn leaves fall.

II. Strike out all unnecessary words in the following complete predicates, leaving only the simple predicates. Then write each simple predicate after its subject, and see if the two together make

sense.

1. Orioles build hanging nests. 2. Shepherds watch their flocks. 3. Primroses peep beneath the hedge.

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HIAWATHA AND PEARL-FEATHER (Concluded)

STRAIGHTWAY from the Shining Wigwam

Came the mighty Megissogwon,

Tall of stature, broad of shoulder,
Dark and terrible in aspect,

Clad from head to foot in wampum,

Armed with all his warlike weapons,

Painted like the sky of morning,

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Streaked with crimson, blue, and yellow,
Crested with great eagle feathers,

Streaming upward, streaming outward.
"Well I know you, Hiawatha !
Cried he in a voice of thunder,
In a tone of loud derision.
"Hasten back, O Shaugodaya!
Hasten back among the women,
Back to old Nokomis, Faint-heart!
I will slay you as you stand there,
As of old I slew her father!"

But my Hiawatha answered,
Nothing daunted, fearing nothing:
"Big words do not smite like war clubs,
Boastful breath is not a bowstring,
Taunts are not so sharp as arrows,

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Deeds are better things than words are,
Actions mightier than boastings!"

Then began the greatest battle
That the sun had ever looked on,
That the war birds ever witnessed.
All a summer's day it lasted,
From the sunrise to the sunset;
For the shafts of Hiawatha
Harmless hit the shirt of wampum,
Harmless fell the blows he dealt it
With his mittens, Minjekahwun,
Harmless fell the heavy war club;
It could dash the rocks asunder,
But it could not break the meshes
Of that magic shirt of wampum.
Till at sunset Hiawatha,
Leaning on his bow of ash tree,
Wounded, weary, and desponding,
With his mighty war club broken,
With his mittens torn and tattered,
And three useless arrows only,
Paused to rest beneath a pine tree.
Suddenly from the boughs above him
Sang the Mama, the woodpecker:
"Aim your arrows, Hiawatha,
At the head of Megissogwon,
Strike the tuft of hair upon it,

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