Page:Song of Hiawatha (1855).djvu/77

Rh Saw the wild rice, Mahnomonee,

Saw the blueberry, Meenahga,

And the strawberry, Odahmin,

And the gooseberry, Shahbomin,

And the grape-vine, the Bemahgut,

Trailing o'er the alder-branches,

Filling all the air with fragrance!

"Master of Life!" he cried, desponding,

"Must our lives depend on these things?"

On the third day of his fasting

By the lake he sat and pondered,

By the still, transparent water;

Saw the sturgeon, Nahma, leaping,

Scattering drops like beads of wampum,

Saw the yellow perch, the Sahwa,

Like a sunbeam in the water,

Saw the pike, the Maskenozha,

And the herring, Okahahwis,

And the Shawgashee, the craw-fish!

"Master of Life!" he cried, desponding,