120 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



shawgashee, the crawfish; on the bows of the 

 canoe, with tail erected, sat the squirrel, Adji- 

 daumo, and on the white sand of the bottom 



" Lay the monster Mishe-Nahma, 

 Lay the Sturgeon, King of Fishes, 

 Through his gills he breathed the water, 

 With his fins he fanned and winnowed, 

 With his tail he swept the sand floor." 



There he lay in all his armour, plates of bone 

 upon his forehead, with spines projecting. Above 

 him came Hiawatha sailing in his birch canoe, 

 with his fishing line of cedar. 



" ' Take my bait !' said Hiawatha, 

 Down into the depths beneath him, 

 ' 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." 



The sturgeon, Nahma, lay quietly fanning the 

 water, till wearied of the call and clamour, he 

 said to the pike, the Maskenozah, "Take the 

 bait of this rude fellow, break the line of Hia- 

 watha!" Hiawatha felt the loose line jerk and 

 tighten, and it tugged so that the birch canoe 

 stood endwise, like a birch log in the water; but 

 Hiawatha was full of scorn when he saw the 

 pike coming nearer and nearer to him, and he 

 shouted through the water, " Shame upon you ! 

 You are but the pike; you are not the fish I 



