in!" cried out
Hiawatha, and he called Nokomis and Iagoo to see the wonderful plant
that was to be the food that he had prayed for to the Great Manito.

They waited until autumn had turned the leaves to yellow, and made the
tender kernels hard and shiny, and then they stripped the husks and
gathered the ears of the wonderful Indian corn. All the Indians for
miles around had a great feast and were happy, because they knew that
with a little care they would have corn to eat in winter and in summer,
in autumn and in spring.

VI

HIAWATHA'S FRIENDS

HIAWATHA had two good friends, whom he had chosen from all other Indians
to be with him always, and whom he loved more than any living men. They
were Chibiabos, the sweetest singer, and Kwasind, the strongest man in
the world; and they told to Hiawatha all their secrets as he told his
to them. Best of all Hiawatha loved the brave and beautiful Chibiabos,
who was such a wonderful musician that when he sang people flocked from
villages far and near to listen to him, and even the animals and birds
left their dens and nests to hear.

Chibiabos sang so sweetly that the brook would pause in its course and
murmur to him, asking him to teach its waves to sing his songs and to
flow as softly as his words flowed when he was singing. The envious
bluebird begged Chibiabos to teach it songs as wild and wonderful as his
own; the robin tried to learn his notes of gladness, and the lonely bird
of night, the whippoorwill, longed to sing as Chibiabos sang when he was
sad. He could imitate all the noises of the woodland, and make them
sound even sweeter than they really were, and by his singing he could
force the Indians to laugh or cry or dance, just as he chose.

The mighty Kwasind was also much beloved by Hiawatha, who believed that
next to wonderful songs and love and wisdom great strength was the
finest thing in the world and the closest to perfect goodness; and
never, in all the years that men have lived upon the earth, has there
been another man so strong as Kwasind.

When he was a boy, Kwasind did not fish or play with other children, but
seemed very dull and dreamy, and his father and mother thought that they
were bringing up a fool. "Lazy Kwasind!" his mother said to him, "you
never help me with my work. In the summer you roam through the fields
and forests, doing nothing; and now that it is winter you sit beside the
fire like an old woman, and leave me to break the ice f