SWALLOWED BY KING OF FISHES 121 



wanted, you are not the King of Fishes ! " Then 

 the sunfish seized the line of Hiawatha, swung 

 with all his weight upon it, made a whirlpool in 

 the water, till the water flags and rushes nodded 

 in the distant marshes. " Esa ! Esa ! shame upon 

 you ! you are Ugudwash, the sunfish, you are not 

 the fish I wanted." 



At last Nahma heard the shout, and challenge 

 of defiance, and 



" Up he rose with angry gesture, 

 Quivering in each nerve and fibre, 

 Clashing all his plate of armour, 

 Gleaming bright with all his warpaint ; 

 In his wrath he darted upward, 

 Flashing leaped into the sunshine, 

 Opened his great jaws and swallowed 

 Both canoe and Hiawatha!" 



Naturally, you would think, this is the end of 

 Hiawatha! but not a bit of it. Here is another 

 Jonah, in the sturgeon's belly; how he fared, he 

 and his faithful little squirrel and his canoe, and 

 how he got out, must be told in his own words : 



" Down into that darksome cavern 

 Plunged the headlong Hiawatha, 

 As a log on some black river 

 Shoots and plunges down the rapids. 

 Found himself in utter darkness, 

 Groped about in helpless wonder, 

 Till he felt a great heart beating, 

 Throbbing in that utter darkness, 



And he smote it in his anger, 

 With his fist, the heart of Nahma, 



