tens, made of deer-skin. When Hiawatha had
his mittens on, he could smite the hardest rocks asunder.

He [_Hiawatha_] had mittens, Minjekahwun,
Magic mittens made of deer-skin;
When upon his hands he wore them,
He could smite the rocks asunder.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iv. (1855).

=Minna and Brenda=, two beautiful girls, the daughters of Magnus Troil,
the old udaller of Zetland. Minna was stately in form, with dark eyes
and raven locks; credulous and vain, but not giddy; enthusiastic,
talented and warm-hearted. She loved Captain Clement Cleveland; but
Cleveland was killed in an encounter on the Spanish main. Brenda had
golden hair, a bloom on her cheeks, a fairy form, and a serene, cheerful
disposition. She was less the heroine than her sister, but more the
loving and confiding woman. She married Mordaunt Mertoun (ch. iii).--Sir
W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

=Minna von Barnhelm.= A wealthy girl who is engaged to Major von Tellheim,
a Prussian soldier. He loses his fortune, is wounded and suspected of
dishonor, and from regard for Minna strives to break the engagement.
Everything is righted, and they marry.--G. E. Lessing.

=Minneha'ha= ("_the laughing water_"), daughter of the arrow-maker of
Daco'tah, and wife of Hiawatha. She was called Minnehaha from the
waterfall of that name between St. Anthony and Fort Snelling.

From the waterfall, he named her
Minnehaha, Laughing Water.

Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, iv. (1855).

=Minnesingers=, the Troubadours of Germany during the Hohenstaufen period
(1138-1294), minstrels who composed and sung short lyrical
poems--usually in praise of women or in celebration of the beauties of
nature--called _Minne_, or love songs. The names of nearly three hundred
of these poets have come down to us, including all classes of society,
the most famous being Dietmar von Aist, Ulrich von Lichenstein, Heinrich
von Frauenlob, and above all Walther von der Vogelweid (1168-1230).
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried von Strasburg, and Hartmann von der
Aue are also classed among the Minnesingers, but their principal fame
was won in the field of metrical romance.

[Asterism] The story runs that Vogelweid bequeathed his worldly all to a
Wurtzburg monastery upon condition that they should feed the doves at
noon every day upon his grave. The multiplying birds aroused the
avaricious alarm of the abbot, who forbade the daily distribution.

"Tim