The Song Of Hiawatha - Xvii - The Hunting Of Pau-puk-keewis Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEDDFGHDIDDJJKDDH KDDDKILMFDCADDDNNOPD KKKQCDORKKDDKKOOCDDK OODOOODOOODDODDSDKJJ JDJDDDDODDDDRORDOODD OLDTDJDODODKONDODODO CUDODDUDDDRCDADLRRLD CDODUOKDUROADRDDJDKD ODOJDDKOVTROKDDKAKDK KKKKKDADDDRRDKOKWDKB DODJDKDDKKAODDDDKKCN KWDDKKKLDLBLBODODRAR RKJDKDDKBJOOOOJJCQCD KDDDKADDNNJJJDDKJDKK XAKDDDOJKJODYZCDDDOK JYAJYYOAYOYDYKRRDODD ORKRDDYRDDJDDDODDRRR DAKDODODDDQQDDDQDDDD KDDBKFull of wrath was Hiawatha | A |
When he came into the village | B |
Found the people in confusion | C |
Heard of all the misdemeanors | D |
All the malice and the mischief | E |
Of the cunning Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Hard his breath came through his nostrils | D |
Through his teeth he buzzed and muttered | F |
Words of anger and resentment | G |
Hot and humming like a hornet | H |
I will slay this Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Slay this mischief maker said he | I |
Not so long and wide the world is | D |
Not so rude and rough the way is | D |
That my wrath shall not attain him | J |
That my vengeance shall not reach him | J |
Then in swift pursuit departed | K |
Hiawatha and the hunters | D |
On the trail of Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Through the forest where he passed it | H |
To the headlands where he rested | K |
But they found not Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Only in the trampled grasses | D |
In the whortleberry bushes | D |
Found the couch where he had rested | K |
Found the impress of his body | I |
From the lowlands far beneath them | L |
From the Muskoday the meadow | M |
Pau Puk Keewis turning backward | F |
Made a gesture of defiance | D |
Made a gesture of derision | C |
And aloud cried Hiawatha | A |
From the summit of the mountains | D |
Not so long and wide the world is | D |
Not so rude and rough the way is | D |
But my wrath shall overtake you | N |
And my vengeance shall attain you | N |
Over rock and over river | O |
Through bush and brake and forest | P |
Ran the cunning Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Like an antelope he bounded | K |
Till he came unto a streamlet | K |
In the middle of the forest | K |
To a streamlet still and tranquil | Q |
That had overflowed its margin | C |
To a dam made by the beavers | D |
To a pond of quiet water | O |
Where knee deep the trees were standing | R |
Where the water lilies floated | K |
Where the rushes waved and whispered | K |
On the dam stood Pau Puk Keewis | D |
On the dam of trunks and branches | D |
Through whose chinks the water spouted | K |
O'er whose summit flowed the streamlet | K |
From the bottom rose the beaver | O |
Looked with two great eyes of wonder | O |
Eyes that seemed to ask a question | C |
At the stranger Pau Puk Keewis | D |
On the dam stood Pau Puk Keewis | D |
O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet | K |
Flowed the bright and silvery water | O |
And he spake unto the beaver | O |
With a smile he spake in this wise | D |
O my friend Ahmeek the beaver | O |
Cool and pleasant is the water | O |
Let me dive into the water | O |
Let me rest there in your lodges | D |
Change me too into a beaver | O |
Cautiously replied the beaver | O |
With reserve he thus made answer | O |
Let me first consult the others | D |
Let me ask the other beavers | D |
Down he sank into the water | O |
Heavily sank he as a stone sinks | D |
Down among the leaves and branches | D |
Brown and matted at the bottom | S |
On the dam stood Pau Puk Keewis | D |
O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet | K |
Spouted through the chinks below him | J |
Dashed upon the stones beneath him | J |
Spread serene and calm before him | J |
And the sunshine and the shadows | D |
Fell in flecks and gleams upon him | J |
Fell in little shining patches | D |
Through the waving rustling branches | D |
From the bottom rose the beavers | D |
Silently above the surface | D |
Rose one head and then another | O |
Till the pond seemed full of beavers | D |
Full of black and shining faces | D |
To the beavers Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Spake entreating said in this wise | D |
Very pleasant is your dwelling | R |
O my friends and safe from danger | O |
Can you not with all your cunning | R |
All your wisdom and contrivance | D |
Change me too into a beaver | O |
Yes replied Ahmeek the beaver | O |
He the King of all the beavers | D |
Let yourself slide down among us | D |
Down into the tranquil water | O |
Down into the pond among them | L |
Silently sank Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Black became his shirt of deer skin | T |
Black his moccasins and leggings | D |
In a broad black tail behind him | J |
Spread his fox tails and his fringes | D |
He was changed into a beaver | O |
Make me large said Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Make me large and make me larger | O |
Larger than the other beavers | D |
Yes the beaver chief responded | K |
When our lodge below you enter | O |
In our wigwam we will make you | N |
Ten times larger than the others | D |
Thus into the clear brown water | O |
Silently sank Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Found the bottom covered over | O |
With the trunks of trees and branches | D |
Hoards of food against the winter | O |
Piles and heaps against the famine | C |
Found the lodge with arching doorway | U |
Leading into spacious chambers | D |
Here they made him large and larger | O |
Made him largest of the beavers | D |
Ten times larger than the others | D |
You shall be our ruler said they | U |
Chief and King of all the beavers | D |
But not long had Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Sat in state among the beavers | D |
When there came a voice of warning | R |
From the watchman at his station | C |
In the water flags and lilies | D |
Saying Here Is Hiawatha | A |
Hiawatha with his hunters | D |
Then they heard a cry above them | L |
Heard a shouting and a tramping | R |
Heard a crashing and a rushing | R |
And the water round and o'er them | L |
Sank and sucked away in eddies | D |
And they knew their dam was broken | C |
On the lodge's roof the hunters | D |
Leaped and broke it all asunder | O |
Streamed the sunshine through the crevice | D |
Sprang the beavers through the doorway | U |
Hid themselves in deeper water | O |
In the channel of the streamlet | K |
But the mighty Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Could not pass beneath the doorway | U |
He was puffed with pride and feeding | R |
He was swollen like a bladder | O |
Through the roof looked Hiawatha | A |
Cried aloud O Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Vain are all your craft and cunning | R |
Vain your manifold disguises | D |
Well I know you Pau Puk Keewis | D |
With their clubs they beat and bruised him | J |
Beat to death poor Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Pounded him as maize is pounded | K |
Till his skull was crushed to pieces | D |
Six tall hunters lithe and limber | O |
Bore him home on poles and branches | D |
Bore the body of the beaver | O |
But the ghost the Jeebi in him | J |
Thought and felt as Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Still lived on as Pau Puk Keewis | D |
And it fluttered strove and struggled | K |
Waving hither waving thither | O |
As the curtains of a wigwam | V |
Struggle with their thongs of deer skin | T |
When the wintry wind is blowing | R |
Till it drew itself together | O |
Till it rose up from the body | K |
Till it took the form and features | D |
Of the cunning Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Vanishing into the forest | K |
But the wary Hiawatha | A |
Saw the figure ere it vanished | K |
Saw the form of Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Glide into the soft blue shadow | K |
Of the pine trees of the forest | K |
Toward the squares of white beyond it | K |
Toward an opening in the forest | K |
Like a wind it rushed and panted | K |
Bending all the boughs before it | K |
And behind it as the rain comes | D |
Came the steps of Hiawatha | A |
To a lake with many islands | D |
Came the breathless Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Where among the water lilies | D |
Pishnekuh the brant were sailing | R |
Through the tufts of rushes floating | R |
Steering through the reedy islands | D |
Now their broad black beaks they lifted | K |
Now they plunged beneath the water | O |
Now they darkened in the shadow | K |
Now they brightened in the sunshine | W |
Pishnekuh cried Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Pishnekuh my brothers said he | K |
Change me to a brant with plumage | B |
With a shining neck and feathers | D |
Make me large and make me larger | O |
Ten times larger than the others | D |
Straightway to a brant they changed him | J |
With two huge and dusky pinions | D |
With a bosom smooth and rounded | K |
With a bill like two great paddles | D |
Made him larger than the others | D |
Ten times larger than the largest | K |
Just as shouting from the forest | K |
On the shore stood Hiawatha | A |
Up they rose with cry and clamor | O |
With a whir and beat of pinions | D |
Rose up from the reedy Islands | D |
From the water flags and lilies | D |
And they said to Pau Puk Keewis | D |
In your flying look not downward | K |
Take good heed and look not downward | K |
Lest some strange mischance should happen | C |
Lest some great mishap befall you | N |
Fast and far they fled to northward | K |
Fast and far through mist and sunshine | W |
Fed among the moors and fen lands | D |
Slept among the reeds and rushes | D |
On the morrow as they journeyed | K |
Buoyed and lifted by the South wind | K |
Wafted onward by the South wind | K |
Blowing fresh and strong behind them | L |
Rose a sound of human voices | D |
Rose a clamor from beneath them | L |
From the lodges of a village | B |
From the people miles beneath them | L |
For the people of the village | B |
Saw the flock of brant with wonder | O |
Saw the wings of Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Flapping far up in the ether | O |
Broader than two doorway curtains | D |
Pau Puk Keewis heard the shouting | R |
Knew the voice of Hiawatha | A |
Knew the outcry of Iagoo | R |
And forgetful of the warning | R |
Drew his neck in and looked downward | K |
And the wind that blew behind him | J |
Caught his mighty fan of feathers | D |
Sent him wheeling whirling downward | K |
All in vain did Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Struggle to regain his balance | D |
Whirling round and round and downward | K |
He beheld in turn the village | B |
And in turn the flock above him | J |
Saw the village coming nearer | O |
And the flock receding farther | O |
Heard the voices growing louder | O |
Heard the shouting and the laughter | O |
Saw no more the flocks above him | J |
Only saw the earth beneath him | J |
Dead out of the empty heaven | C |
Dead among the shouting people | Q |
With a heavy sound and sullen | C |
Fell the brant with broken pinions | D |
But his soul his ghost his shadow | K |
Still survived as Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Took again the form and features | D |
Of the handsome Yenadizze | D |
And again went rushing onward | K |
Followed fast by Hiawatha | A |
Crying Not so wide the world is | D |
Not so long and rough the way is | D |
But my wrath shall overtake you | N |
But my vengeance shall attain you | N |
And so near he came so near him | J |
That his hand was stretched to seize him | J |
His right hand to seize and hold him | J |
When the cunning Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Whirled and spun about in circles | D |
Fanned the air into a whirlwind | K |
Danced the dust and leaves about him | J |
And amid the whirling eddies | D |
Sprang into a hollow oak tree | K |
Changed himself into a serpent | K |
Gliding out through root and rubbish | X |
With his right hand Hiawatha | A |
Smote amain the hollow oak tree | K |
Rent it into shreds and splinters | D |
Left it lying there in fragments | D |
But in vain for Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Once again in human figure | O |
Full in sight ran on before him | J |
Sped away in gust and whirlwind | K |
On the shores of Gitche Gumee | J |
Westward by the Big Sea Water | O |
Came unto the rocky headlands | D |
To the Pictured Rocks of sandstone | Y |
Looking over lake and landscape | Z |
And the Old Man of the Mountain | C |
He the Manito of Mountains | D |
Opened wide his rocky doorways | D |
Opened wide his deep abysses | D |
Giving Pau Puk Keewis shelter | O |
In his caverns dark and dreary | K |
Bidding Pau Puk Keewis welcome | J |
To his gloomy lodge of sandstone | Y |
There without stood Hiawatha | A |
Found the doorways closed against him | J |
With his mittens Minjekahwun | Y |
Smote great caverns in the sandstone | Y |
Cried aloud in tones of thunder | O |
Open I am Hiawatha | A |
But the Old Man of the Mountain | Y |
Opened not and made no answer | O |
From the silent crags of sandstone | Y |
From the gloomy rock abysses | D |
Then he raised his hands to heaven | Y |
Called imploring on the tempest | K |
Called Waywassimo the lightning | R |
And the thunder Annemeekee | R |
And they came with night and darkness | D |
Sweeping down the Big Sea Water | O |
From the distant Thunder Mountains | D |
And the trembling Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Heard the footsteps of the thunder | O |
Saw the red eyes of the lightning | R |
Was afraid and crouched and trembled | K |
Then Waywassimo the lightning | R |
Smote the doorways of the caverns | D |
With his war club smote the doorways | D |
Smote the jutting crags of sandstone | Y |
And the thunder Annemeekee | R |
Shouted down into the caverns | D |
Saying Where is Pau Puk Keewis | D |
And the crags fell and beneath them | J |
Dead among the rocky ruins | D |
Lay the cunning Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Lay the handsome Yenadizze | D |
Slain in his own human figure | O |
Ended were his wild adventures | D |
Ended were his tricks and gambols | D |
Ended all his craft and cunning | R |
Ended all his mischief making | R |
All his gambling and his dancing | R |
All his wooing of the maidens | D |
Then the noble Hiawatha | A |
Took his soul his ghost his shadow | K |
Spake and said O Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Never more in human figure | O |
Shall you search for new adventures | D |
Never more with jest and laughter | O |
Dance the dust and leaves in whirlwinds | D |
But above there in the heavens | D |
You shall soar and sail in circles | D |
I will change you to an eagle | Q |
To Keneu the great war eagle | Q |
Chief of all the fowls with feathers | D |
Chief of Hiawatha's chickens | D |
And the name of Pau Puk Keewis | D |
Lingers still among the people | Q |
Lingers still among the singers | D |
And among the story tellers | D |
And in Winter when the snow flakes | D |
Whirl in eddies round the lodges | D |
When the wind in gusty tumult | K |
O'er the smoke flue pipes and whistles | D |
There they cry comes Pau Puk Keewis | D |
He is dancing through the village | B |
He is gathering in his harvest | K |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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