“Song of Hiawatha” – by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Wenonah, daughter of Nokomis, was Hiawatha’s mother.

She was deserted by the West Wind, Mudjekeewis (false and Faithless), and in her anguish, died shortly after the birth of her son, Hiawatha.

Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis, nursed the little Hiawatha and taught him things and as he sat in the doorway on summer evenings, he “heard the whispering of the pine trees, heard the lapping of the waters, the sounds of music, words of women.”

“Minnewawa,” said the pine tress. Sang the blue bird, the Owaissa, “Do not shoot us, Hiawatha.” Then one day, Hiawatha met his father, the mighty West Wind, Mudjekeewis and they talked of Hiawatha’s brothers: First Waban, the East Wind; of Shawondassee, the South Wind; and of Keewaydin, the Northwest Wind.

Hiawatha woos and weds his beloved Minnehaha, “Laughing Water” and happy, pleaceful days followed.

The fields were planted and to his wife, he says:

“You shall bless tonight the corn fields, draw a magic circle around them,
In the night, when all is darkness, when the spirit of sleep, Nepahwin,
shuts the door, of all the wigwams.”

This is the story of the Timberlake legend.