The Song of Hiawatha

Hiawatha and Minnehaha live happily and their tribes prosper. When the corn is planted, Hiawatha tells Minnehaha to bless the cornfields. Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, overhears Hiawatha and plans to fly over the circle with his birds to eat the corn. At midnight, Minnehaha casts a sacred circle around the fields to protect them from insects. When morning comes, however, Kahgahgee and the ravens fly towards the corn to eat it all. But Hiawatha has set traps to catch them. He slays all the ravens except for their king, whom he leaves alive as a warning. When autumn comes, Minnehaha and Nokomis gather the women and the young men of the village to harvest the corn. They make up games with the corn and have a wonderful time.

Hiawatha grows concerned that his people have no way of sharing wisdom and memory with future generations. Important stories become lost once the men who tell them die, and none of the graves can be identified outside of memory. Hiawatha goes into the forest for several days and comes up with a method of recording stories using different color paints to draw pictures. Hiawatha designs symbols for the Great Spirit, the Evil Spirit, life and death, and other things the tribes might think about.