With their blazing crests uplifted,

Breathing fiery fogs and vapors,

So that none could pass beyond them. But the fearless Hiawatha

Cried aloud, and spake in this wise :
"Let me pass my way, Kenabeek,
Let me go upon my journey!"
And they answered, hissing fiercely,
With their fiery breath made answer :
"Back, go back! O Shaugodaya!
Back to old Nokomis, Faint-heart! '

Then the angry Hiawatha
Raised his mighty bow of ash-tree,
Seized his arrows, jasper-headed,
Shot them fast among the serpents;
Every twanging of the bow-string
Was a war-cry and a death-cry,
Every whizzing of an arrow
Was a death-song of Kenabeek.

Weltering in the bloody water,

Dead lay all the fiery serpents,
And among them Hiawatha

Harmless sailed, and cried exulting :
"Onward, O Cheemaun, my darling!
Onward to the black pitch-water!'

Then he took the oil of Nahma,
And the bows and sides anointed,
Smeared them well with oil, that swiftly

He might pass the black pitch-water.
All night long he sailed upon it,

Sailed upon that sluggish water,
Covered with its mould 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.

All the air was white with moonlight,

All the water black with shadow,
And around him the Suggema,
The mosquitos, sang their war-song,
And the fire-flies, Wah-wah-taysee,
Waved their torches to mislead him;
And the bull-frog, the Dahinda,
Thrust his head into the moonlight,
Fixed his yellow eyes upon him,
Sobbed and sank beneath the surface;
And anon a thousand whistles,

Answered over all the fen-lands,
And the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,

Far off on the reedy margin,
Heralded the hero's coming.

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 fibres,

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,

One end on the sand he rested,

With his knee he pressed the middle, Stretched the faithful bow-string 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!"

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,

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!