XIV. THE LIFE OF THE BEATO TORELLO DA POPPI
From "Il Libro d'Oro of Those Whose Names are Written in the
Lamb's Book of Life." Translated from the Italian by Mrs. Francis
Alexander. Originally written in Latin by Messer Torrelo of
Casentino, Canonico of Fiesole, and put into Italian by Don Silvano.
XV. THE LORELEI
From the German of Heinrich Heine.
XVI. THE PASSING OF ARTHUR
From "Idylls of the King." By Alfred Tennyson.
XVII. RIP VAN WINKLE
Washington Irving.
XVIII. THE GRAY CHAMPION
From "Twice Told Tales." By Nathaniel Hawthorne.
XIX. THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
Washington Irving.
CHAPTER I
WIGWAM LEGEND OF HIAWATHA [Footnote: This story is ascribed to Abraham le Fort, an Onondaga chief, a graduate of Geneva College. The poem of Longfellow has given it general interest. Hiawatha is an example of the intellectual capacity of one of that race of whom it has been said "Take these Indians in their owne trimme and naturall disposition, and they bee reported to bee wise, lofty spirited, constant in friendship to one another: true in their promise, and more industrious than many others."—Wood's, "New England's Prospect," London, 1634.]
On the banks of Tioto, or Cross Lake, resided an eminent man who bore the name of Hiawatha, or the Wise Man.
This name was given him, as its meaning indicates, on account of his great wisdom in council and power in war. Hiawatha was of high and mysterious origin. He had a canoe which would move without paddles, obedient to his will, and which he kept with great care and never used except when he attended the general council of the tribes. It was from Hiawatha the people learned to raise corn and beans; through his instructions they were enabled to remove obstructions from the water courses and clear their fishing grounds; and by him they were helped to get the mastery over the great monsters which overran the country. The people listened to him with ever increasing delight; and he gave them wise laws and maxims from the Great Spirit, for he had been second to him only in power previous to his taking up his dwelling with mankind.