n8 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



" Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, who 

 have faith in God and nature, listen to this 

 simple story; ye who sometimes in your rambles, 

 through the green lanes of the country, read this 

 song of Hiawatha." Wenonah the beautiful was 

 the daughter of Nokomis. Her mother had 

 warned her not "to stoop down among the 

 lilies, lest the West Wind, Mudjekeewis, should 

 come and harm her." But she heeded not the 

 warning, and the West Wind came at evening 

 and found the beautiful Wenonah; he wooed 

 her with his words of sweetness, till she bore a 

 son in Sorrow- 

 Thus was born the child of wonder, Hiawatha, 

 but his mother died, deserted by the false and 

 faithless West Wind, and the wrinkled old No- 

 komis nursed the little Hiawatha, and brought 

 him up. Once the little boy saw the moon rise 

 from the water, and whispered, " What is that, 

 Nokomis?" and she answered: 



" Once a warrior, very angry, 



Seized his grandmother, and threw her 



Up into the sky at midnight; 



Right against the moon he threw her, 



Up into the sky at midnight ; 



Tis her body that you see there." 



Time passed, Hiawatha became a man, and 

 he determined to build himself a light canoe 

 that should float upon the river like a yellow 

 leaf in autumn. So he went to the Birch-tree, 



