woodpecker's head with the blood
of the dead Pearl-Feather, and the woodpecker wears his tuft of
blood-red feathers to this day.

Hiawatha took the shirt of wampum from the dead wizard as a sign of
victory, and from Pearl-Feather's wigwam he carried all the skins and
furs and arrows that he could find, and they were many. He loaded his
canoe with them and sped homeward over the pitch-water, past the dead
bodies of the fiery serpents until he saw Chibiabos and Kwasind and
Nokomis waiting for him on the shore. All the Indians assembled and gave
a feast in Hiawatha's honor, and they sang and danced for joy because
the great wizard would never again send sickness and death among them.
And Hiawatha took the red crest of the woodpecker to decorate his pipe,
for he knew that to the woodpecker his victory was due.

X

HIAWATHA'S WOOING

"WOMAN is to man as the cord is to the bow," thought Hiawatha. "She
bends him, yet obeys him; she draws him, yet she follows. Each is
useless without the other." Hiawatha was dreaming of the lovely maiden,
Minnehaha, whom he had seen in the country of the Dacotahs.

"Do not wed a stranger, Hiawatha," warned the old Nokomis; "do not
search in the east or in the west to win a bride. Take a maid of your
own people, for the homely daughter of a neighbor is like the pleasant
fire on the hearth-stone, while the stranger is cold and distant, like
the starlight or the light of the pale moon."

But Hiawatha only smiled and answered: "Dear Nokomis, the fire on the
hearth-stone is indeed pleasant and warm, but I love the starlight and
the moonlight better."

"Do not bring home an idle woman," said old Nokomis, "bring not home a
maiden who is unskilled with the needle and will neither cook nor sew!"
And Hiawatha answered: "Good Nokomis, in the land of the Dacotahs lives
the daughter of an Arrow-maker, and she is the most beautiful of all the
women in the world. Her name is Minnehaha, and I will bring her home to
do your bidding and to be your firelight, your moonlight, and your
starlight, all in one."

"Ah, Hiawatha," warned Nokomis, "bring not home a maid of the Dacotahs!
The Dacotahs are fierce and cruel and there is often war between our
tribe and theirs." Hiawatha laughed and answered: "I will wed a maid of
the Dacotahs, and old wars shall be forgotten in a new and lasting peace
that shall make the two tribes friends forevermore. For this alone would
I wed the lovely Laughing Water if