The Song of Hiawatha

Kwasind’s fame spreads throughout the tribes. The Puk-Wudjies, the Little People, are afraid of Kwasind’s strength and fear he will crush them by accident. The Puk-Wudjies are the only ones who know Kwasind’s weakness: The top of his head is vulnerable to the cones that grow on the fir tree. They gather together on the ledges above the river and wait for Kwasind to pass by. As he floats down the river in his canoe, the summer air makes him drowsy. When he falls asleep, the Puk-Wudjies rain down fir cones on his head. Kwasind tips over into the water and is never seen again. His stories, however, live on.

Hiawatha has endured hardship in the loss of his friends, but his trials are only beginning. One day, while Nokomis and Minnehaha wait for Hiawatha to return from hunting, two women arrive and sit in a corner of their home. When Hiawatha returns, they prepare a meal and allow the silent guests to take the best parts. For several days, Hiawatha, Nokomis, and Minnehaha allow the strangers to stay as the law of sacred hospitality dictates. One night, Hiawatha wakes to hear the strangers crying. They’ve been sent from the land of the dead to warn him that the dead can hear the mourning cries of the living.