loving and kind-hearted. For
the Indians were apt to paint the things they thought about the most.

Many were the gifts that Hiawatha gave his people; but when he taught
them how to paint their thoughts, he gave them a better gift than any
other.

XV

HIAWATHA'S LAMENTATION

WHEN Hiawatha lived, there were many evil spirits on the earth; and
these evil spirits were very jealous of the friendship between Hiawatha
and Chibiabos. "If we can only get this Chibiabos in our power," they
plotted, "we will kill him, and when he is dead, Hiawatha cannot do so
much good to all the tribes of men; for Chibiabos helps him like a
brother, and together they are much too strong for us." The evil spirits
joined to destroy both Chibiabos and Hiawatha, and they laid many traps
and thought of many schemes to catch the two friends off their guard.

Hiawatha was so wise that he knew of all this plotting, and he often
said to Chibiabos: "O my brother, stay with me always, for together the
evil spirits cannot do us any harm." But Chibiabos was young and
heedless and he did not fear the evil spirits. He laughed at Hiawatha,
and said to him: "Harm and evil never come near me, my Hiawatha; have no
fear on my account." But Hiawatha only shook his head, and feared all
the more because Chibiabos feared so little.

Once in the winter time, when the Big-Sea-Water was covered with ice and
snow, Chibiabos was hunting a buck with antlers, and the buck ran right
across the frozen lake. Wild with excitement of hunting, Chibiabos
followed him and ran far out from shore upon the treacherous ice, where
the evil spirits were waiting for him. When they saw that he was far
enough from land, they broke the ice and Chibiabos fell with a crash and
a splash into the freezing water of the lake. Even then he might have
saved himself and climbed out upon the ice but the strong, cruel
water-god, the god of the Dacotahs, wrapped his cold wet arms around the
body of Chibiabos and dragged him down, down through the dark black
water to the bottom. There the water-god buried him beneath the mud and
sand, so that his dead body might not rise to the surface; and the evil
spirits danced for joy at the death of Chibiabos. "We have killed him,"
they shouted gleefully to one another; "we have killed the sweetest
singer in the world and the dearest friend of Hiawatha!"

From the headlands on the shore, Hiawatha had seen Chibiabos plunge into
the lake, and he heard t