Page:Song of Hiawatha (1855).djvu/261

Rh Scanning one another's motions,

When the first descends, the others

Follow, follow, gathering flock-wise

Round then: victim, sick and wounded,

First a shadow, then a sorrow,

Till the air is dark with anguish.

Now, o'er all the dreary Northland,

Mighty Peboan, the Winter,

Breathing on the lakes and rivers,

Into stone had changed their waters.

From his hair he shook the snow-flakes,

Till the plains were strewn with whiteness,

One uninterrupted level,

As if, stooping, the Creator

With his hand had smoothed them over.

Through the forest, wide and wailing,

Roamed the hunter on his snow-shoes;

In the village worked the women,

Pounded maize, or dressed the deer-skin;

And the young men played together