Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-12-13

his couch OF leaves ana Drahches' Saa
,alf.open eyelids on the cleaning OF
and the splendor of the sunset, app,ro!A
,ugh the purple twilight. dressed IN
Of green and yellow, with soft and g
and green plumes waving over his
legend is continued in the poets own
}:
Thrice they wrcsted there together
In the glory of the sunset,
Till the darkness fell around them,
Till the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
From her haults among the fen-lands,
Uttered her loud cry of famine,
And Modamin paused to listen.
Tall and beautiful he stood there,
In his garments green and yellow
10 and fro his plumes above him
Waved and nodded with his breathing,
And the sweat of the encounter
Stood like drops of dew upon him.
And he cried, 80 Hiawatha
Bravely have you wrestled with me
Thrice have wrestled stputly with Inc,
And the Master of Life, who sees US,
lie will give to you the triumph J"
Then he smiled and said: "To-morrcw
Is the last day Of your conflict,
Is the last day Of your fasting.
You vii conquer and o'ercome me
Make bed for me to lie in,
Where the rain may fall upon me,
Where the sun may come and warm me
Strip these garments green and yellow,
Strip this nodding plumage from me,
Lay me in the earth, and make 1t
Soft and loose and light above me.
uLet no hand disturb my sumber,
Let no weed nor worm molest me,
Let not Kahgahge, the raven,
Come to inupt me and mulest me,
Only come yourself to watch nc
Till wake, and start, and quicken,
Till leap into the sunshine"
And thus saying. he departed;
Peacefully slept Hiawatha,
But he heard the Wawomaissa,
Heard the whippoorwill complaining,
perchcd upon his lonely wigwam;
Heard tho rushing sebowisha,
Heard the riyulct ripping near him,
Talking to the darksome forest;
Heard the signing Of the branches,
As they lifted and subsidized
At The passing OF the night wind
Heard them, as one hears in sluniher
Far off murmurs, dreamy whispers;
Peacefully slept Hiawatha.
On the morrow came Nokomis,
On the seventh day OF his fasting,
Came with food for IIiawatha.
Came imploring and bewailing,
Lest his hunger should o'ercomc him,
Lest his fasting should be fatal
But he tasted not, and touched not,
Only said to her" Nokomis,
Wait until the sun is setting.
Till the dark ness falls around US,
Till the heron, the Shuh shuh-gah,
CRYING from the desolate marshes,
Tells us that the day is ended"
Iomeward!weeping went Nokumis,
sorrowing for her IIiawatha,
Fearing less his strength should fail him,
Lest his fasting should be fatal.
He meanwhile sat weary waiting,
For the coming Of Mondamin,
Till the shadows pointing eastward,
Lengthened over field and forest
Til the sun droope from the heaven,
Floating on the waters westward,
As red leaf in the Autumn ..
Falls aud floats upon the water,
Falls anil sinks into its bosom.
And behold the young Mondamin,
With his sofl and shining tresses,
With his garments green and yellow,
With his long and glossy plumage,
Stood and bcckoned at the doorway,
And as one In slumber walking.
Pale and haggard, but undaunted,
From the wigwam Iliawatha
Came, ani wrestled with Mondamih.
Round about him spun the landscape,
Sky anil forest rceled together,
And his strong heart ieaped within him,
As the sturgeon leaps and struggles
In q net to break its meshes.
Like ring Of fre around him
Blazed aud flared the red horizon,
And hundred suns seemed looking
At the combat Of the wrcsslcrs.
Suddenly upon the greensward
An alone stood Hiawaths,
Painting with his Will exertion,
Palptating with the struggle;
An before him, breathless, lifeless,
Lay the youth with hair dishevelled,
plumage torn, and garments tattered,
Dead he lay there in the sunset.
And victorious lIiawatha
Made the grave as he commanded,
Stripped the garments from Mondamin,
Stripped his tattcrei pluniaga from him,
Laid him in the earth, and made It
Soft ami loose and light above hint
And the heron, the shuh-shuh-gah,
From the melancholy moorlands,
Gave cry Of lalnentation,
Gave a cry Of pain and anguish
Homeward then went Hiawatha
To the lodge Of old Nokomis,