104 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



1 Take my bait, O Sturgeon, Nahma ! 

 Come up from below the water, 

 Let us see which is the stronger ! ' 

 And he dropped his line of cedar 

 Through the clear transparent water, 

 Waited vainly for an answer, 

 Long sat waiting for an answer, 

 And repeating loud and louder, 

 Take my bait, O King of Fishes !' 



Quiet lay the sturgeon, Nahma, 

 Fanning slowly in the water, 

 Looking up at Hiawatha, 

 Listening to his call and clamour, 

 His unnecessary tumult, 

 Till he wearied of the shouting j 

 And he said to the Kenozha, 

 To the pike, the Maskenozha, 

 ' Take the bait of this rude fellow, 

 Break the line of Hiawatha ! ' 



In his fingers Hiawatha 

 Felt the loose line jerk and tighten ; 

 As he drew it in, it tugged so 

 That the birch-canoe stood endwise 

 Like a birch log in the water, 

 With the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 

 Perched and frisking on the summit 



Full of scorn was Hiawatha 

 When he saw the fish rise upwards, 

 Saw the pike, the Maskenozha, 

 Coming nearer, nearer to him, 

 And he shouted through the water, 

 ' Esa ! esa ! shame upon you ! 

 You are but the pike, Kenozha, 

 You are not the fish I wanted, 

 You are not the King of Fishes !' 



Reeling downward to the bottom 

 Sank the pike in great confusion, 

 And the mighty sturgeon, Nahma, 

 Said to Ugudwash, the sun-fish, 

 'Take the bait of this great boaster, 

 Break the line of Hiawatha !' 



