Page:Song of Hiawatha (1855).djvu/141

Rh 'Twixt the shadow and the sunshine,

Herds of fallow deer were feeding,

But they saw not Hiawatha;

To his bow he whispered, "Fail not!"

To his arrow whispered, "Swerve not!"

Sent it singing on its errand,

To the red heart of the roebuck;

Threw the deer across his shoulder,

And sped forward without pausing.

At the doorway of his wigwam

Sat the ancient Arrow-maker,

In the land of the Dacotahs,

Making arrow-heads of jasper,

Arrow-heads of chalcedony.

At his side, in all her beauty,

Sat the lovely Minnehaha,

Sat his daughter, Laughing Water,

Plaiting mats of flags and rushes;

Of the past the old man's thoughts were,

And the maiden's of the future.