t whom their
own people often scoff and jeer. Let these people take warning from the
story of Osseo, so that they too may not be changed to birds for
laughing at their betters;" and the wedding guests all whispered to each
other, "I wonder if he means himself and us." Then Chibiabos sang
another sweet and tender love-song, and the guests all went away,
leaving Hiawatha alone and happy with Minnehaha.

XIII

BLESSING THE CORNFIELDS

MANY were the pleasant days that followed the wedding of Minnehaha and
Hiawatha. All the tribes were at peace with one another, and the hunters
roved wherever they chose, built their birch canoes, hunted and fished
and trapped the beaver without once hearing the war-cry or the hiss of a
hostile arrow. The women made sugar from the sap of the maple-trees,
gathered the wild rice and dressed the skins of the deer and beaver,
while all around the peaceful village waved green and sunny fields of
corn.

Once, when the corn was being planted by the women, the wise and
thoughtful Hiawatha said to Minnehaha: "To-night you shall bless the
cornfields, and draw around them a magic circle to keep out the mildew
and the insects. In the night, when everybody is asleep and none can
hear you or see you, rise from your bed, lay aside your clothes and walk
in the darkness around the fields of corn that you have planted. Do this
and the fields shall be more fruitful and the magic circle of your
footsteps cannot be crossed by either worm or insect; for the dragon-fly
and the spider, and the grasshopper and the caterpillar all will know
that you have walked around the cornfields, and they will not dare to
enter."

While Hiawatha spoke, Kahgahgee, King of the Ravens, sat with his band
of black robbers in the tree-tops near at hand, and they laughed so loud
at the words of Hiawatha that the tree-tops shook and rattled. "Kaw!"
shouted the ravens. "Listen to the wise man! Hear the plots of Hiawatha!
We will fly over the magic circle and eat just as much corn as we can
hold."

When night had fallen dark and black over the fields and woodlands, and
when all the Indians were sleeping fast, Minnehaha rose from her bed of
branches, laid aside her garments and walked safely among the
cornfields, drawing the magic circle of her light footsteps closely
around them. No one but the midnight saw her, and no one but the
whippoorwill heard the panting of her bosom, for the darkness wrapped
its cloak closely about