Wigwam stories told by North American Indians

by Unknown

While the three Indians sat watching the river, they saw a white canoe coming straight toward the little hill [[245]]where they sat. It seemed to come from the place of the setting sun.

The three Indians saw a white-haired chief alone in the canoe, and he had no paddle. The canoe came very fast, but it needed no help. The white-haired chief told the canoe to stop by the little hill on the shore where sat the three Indians; it came there and stopped.

The three Indians knew by the strange canoe that the Great Spirit had sent him, and they were afraid.

The white-haired chief said: “I am Hiawatha. I will help you and your people. Tell me what your nation can do. Tell me of your hunting.”

The three arose and told Hiawatha of their nation. They had thought their people very strong; now they seemed like wild rabbits for weakness. They told him of their hunting, but they were not proud, for Hiawatha was wiser than any chief, and he knew what was in their hearts.

Hiawatha said: “Go back to your people. I shall come, and you will see me when you have made my lodge ready. I knew you were coming, for I saw you in the dark forests. I saw you on the great rocks in the forests. Go back and tell your people I am coming. Tell them to make a wigwam for Hiawatha.”

The three Indians could not talk to each other. Their hearts were full. They found the trail they had made and followed it back to their own land; there [[246]]they told their chiefs of the wise one in the white canoe. The chiefs made ready for his coming.

“He will come in a white stone canoe,” said the chiefs.

The wigwam was built by a lake, and it was made of the finest skins of the deer. It was a white wigwam, with the door left open. No one watched to see who should shut the door.

One morning the door was shut, and a strange white canoe was in the water. The people came out of their lodges, and soon the doorway of skins in the white wigwam was opened. Hiawatha had come to the Onondaga nation. His wigwam was on the shore of Tiota or Cross Lake, in the land of the Onondagas.