Only Minnehaha softly Whispered, saying, "They are famished;Let them do what best delights them;
Let them eat, for they are famished."
Many a daylight dawned and darkened, Many a night shook off the daylight As the pine shakes off the snow-flakes From the midnight of its branches;Day by day the guests unmoving Sat there silent in the wigwam;But by night, in storm or starlight, Forth they went into the forest, Bringing fire-wood to the wigwam, Bringing pine-cones for the burning, Always sad and always silent.
And whenever Hiawatha Came from fishing or from hunting, When the evening meal was ready, And the food had been divided, Gliding from their darksome corner, Came the pallid guests, the strangers, Seized upon the choicest portions Set aside for Laughing Water, And without rebuke or question Flitted back among the shadows.
Never once had Hiawatha By a word or look reproved them;Never once had old Nokomis Made a gesture of impatience;Never once had Laughing Water Shown resentment at the outrage.
All had they endured in silence, That the rights of guest and stranger, That the virtue of free-giving, By a look might not be lessened, By a word might not be broken.
Once at midnight Hiawatha, Ever wakeful, ever watchful, In the wigwam, dimly lighted By the brands that still were burning, By the glimmering, flickering firelight Heard a sighing, oft repeated, From his couch rose Hiawatha, From his shaggy hides of bison, Pushed aside the deer-skin curtain, Saw the pallid guests, the shadows, Sitting upright on their couches, Weeping in the silent midnight.
And he said: "O guests! why is it That your hearts are so afflicted, That you sob so in the midnight?
Has perchance the old Nokomis, Has my wife, my Minnehaha, Wronged or grieved you by unkindness, Failed in hospitable duties?"Then the shadows ceased from weeping, Ceased from sobbing and lamenting, And they said, with gentle voices:
"We are ghosts of the departed, Souls of those who once were with you.
From the realms of Chibiabos Hither have we come to try you, Hither have we come to warn you.
"Cries of grief and lamentation Reach us in the Blessed Islands;Cries of anguish from the living, Calling back their friends departed, Sadden us with useless sorrow.
Therefore have we come to try you;
No one knows us, no one heeds us.
We are but a burden to you, And we see that the departed Have no place among the living.
"Think of this, O Hiawatha!
Speak of it to all the people, That henceforward and forever They no more with lamentations Sadden the souls of the departed In the Islands of the Blessed.
"Do not lay such heavy burdens In the graves of those you bury, Not such weight of furs and wampum, Not such weight of pots and kettles, For the spirits faint beneath them.
Only give them food to carry, Only give them fire to light them.
"Four days is the spirit's journey To the land of ghosts and shadows, Four its lonely night encampments;Four times must their fires be lighted.
Therefore, when the dead are buried, Let a fire, as night approaches, Four times on the grave be kindled, That the soul upon its journey May not lack the cheerful firelight, May not grope about in darkness.
"Farewell, noble Hiawatha!
We have put you to the trial, To the proof have put your patience, By the insult of our presence, By the outrage of our actions.
We have found you great and noble.
Fail not in the greater trial, Faint not In the harder struggle."When they ceased, a sudden darkness Fell and filled the silent wigwam.
Hiawatha heard a rustle As of garments trailing by him, Heard the curtain of the doorway Lifted by a hand he saw not, Felt the cold breath of the night air, For a moment saw the starlight;But he saw the ghosts no longer, Saw no more the wandering spirits From the kingdom of Ponemah, From the land of the Hereafter.
