RELEASED BY SEA-GULLS 123 



' O ye seagulls ! O my brothers ! 



I have slain the sturgeon, Nahma; 



Make the rifts a little larger, 



With your claws the opening widen, 



Set me free from this dark prison, 



And henceforward and forever 



Men shall speak of your achiev'ments, 



Calling you Kayoshk, the seagulls, 



Yes, Kayoshk, the noble scratchers ! ' " 



Then the wild and clamorous seagulls toiled 

 with beak and claws, and made the rifts and 

 openings wider in the mighty ribs of Nahma, 

 and thus they released Hiawatha. 



Hiawatha called his grandmother, old Noko- 

 mis, and pointing to the sturgeon, Nahma, lying 

 lifeless on the pebbles, told her that he had 

 slain " The King of Fishes." 



" Drive them not away, Nokomis, 



They have saved me from great peril 



In the body of the sturgeon ; 



Wait until their meal is ended ; 



Till their craws are full with feasting 



Then bring all your pots and kettles 



And make oil for us in Winter." 



Three whole days and nights did it take 

 Nokomis and the gulls to strip the oily flesh of 



Nahma 



"Till the waves washed through the rib-bones, 

 Till the seagulls came no longer, 

 And upon the sands lay nothing 

 But the skeleton of Nahma." 



