fancied him intensely imaginative, emphatically graphic in his speech, and unequalled in the exuberance of his imagery: in Hiawatha, he is prosaic, tautological, feeble, and often painfully discordant. But now a question may naturally arise; has The Song of Hiawatha, in reality sprung from Indian Legends? Do its materials properly belong to the Indian Edda? Our answer is a most decided negative, which we will now proceed to justify. In the "Beiträge zur genauren Kenntniss der Ehstnischen Sprache" ("Contributions to a more intimate knowledge of the Esthonian language"), may be seen a contribution by Carl Jaak Peterson, on the Finnish Mythology: in it he speaks of Jumala, the supreme god of the Finns, of Rauni, of Ukko, corresponding to the Jupiter of the Greeks and Romans, of Abaan-Emonen his wife, and amongst others of the celebrated Wäinämöinen. This Wäinämöinen is the hero of the "Kalewala," the great national Epic of the Finns. The name of the author of this singular production, (if indeed, which is questionable, it be the work of one individual) is not recorded. After living for centuries among the Finlanders, the fragments of this extraordinary poem, have at last been collected, and now present almost a perfect form. Alexander Castren, having made extensive journeys through Finland, with the most praiseworthy zeal, for the purpose of taking down the ballads, as he heard them sung by the peasants, on the long winter nights, by their blazing log fires, has given us a most excellent Swedish translation. In 1845, a French translation was published by Leuzen Le Duc; another, in German, was printed at Helsingfors, in 1852, by Auton Schiefner, and dedicated to Castren: the latest by Dr Lonnrot, was published in 1849, and contains fifty songs, or runes, and twenty-two thousand, seven hundred and ninety-three verses. Now, it will inevitably be discovered upon examination, that Longfellow has embodied in Hiawatha, the entire form, spirit, and many of the most striking incidents in the Finnish Epics, and that, therefore, his new poem, is no English version, or amplification of the Indian Edda, but a simple appropriation of the prominent stories in the Finnish Kalewala. The resemblance between the two poems is so close, as to preclude the possibility of its being accidental; and yet the author of Hiawatha, makes no further acknowledgment as to the source from whence he has taken his materials, than is to be found in his first note, where he speaks of " this Indian Edda." Our subject will not, of course, permit us to give a detailed narrative of the plot of The Kalewala, but the outline which we now subjoin for the reader's examination, will, when he compares it with the frame work of Hiawatha, or even with that description of it, which we shall hereafter lay before him, be sufficient to shew the very great similarity which exists between them. The hero of the poem is Wäinämöinen, son of the daughter of the air, who let herself down from heaven into the sea, and was there wooed by the Storm Wind. After wandering on the face of the waters for ages upon ages, he at length reaches the land, and begins his career as a benefactor of man. Then follows a description of his exploits and adventures, extending through forty-nine runes. When at last his mission is accomplished, Wäinämöinen enters his boat, sails away over the sea, and is finally seen mingling with the clouds. Let us now compare the prelude of Hiawatha, with the following extract from that of the Kalewala (from the German translation), into English of the same metre, which is also that of the original: HIAWATHA. SHOULD you ask me, whence these stories? I should answer, I should tell you, THE KALEWALA. These the words we have received, These my father sung afore time, As a weakling small of stature; I repeat them as I heard them Should you ask where Nawadaha "All the wild-fowl sang them to him Chetowaik, the plover, sang them, Never failed these wond'rous stories, Rifled from the bushy copses; From the bending twigs I plucked them When a shepherd boy I sauntered, Songs the very coldness gave me, Other songs, the ocean-billows; Without discussing the adaptability of the metre (the trochaic dimeter), in which Hiawatha is written, to the subject of the poem, which we make bold to affirm, the reader of five pages, will determine to its disadvantage, we come now to the story as it is given us by Longfellow. Gitche Manito, the mighty, seeing the necessity of putting an end to the constant battles and dissensions, which took place between the different savage tribes, convokes a meeting of the various nations, impresses upon them the wickedness of their past lives, and having previously broken a portion of the "red pipe stone quarry" on which he is standing, and "moulded it into a pipe head," he smokes it, "the calumet, the peace pipe," and urges them to follow his example, to live in amity with one another, assuring them that he will send a prophet amongst them, who shall guide and teach them, and also toil and suffer in their behalf. Then, "the Master of Life," having received their promise that his instructions shall be attended to, ascends in volumes of smoke from his peace pipe, to, "the doorways of the Heaven." Hiawatha, the prophet, sent by Gitche Manito, is the offspring of Wenonah and the West Wind. Wenonah's mother, Nokomis, is the daughter of the Moon, and thus is her appearance on the earth accounted for. She was sporting with her women, Cut the leafy swing asunder, Cut in twain the twisted grape-vines, And Nokomis fell affrighted On the prairie full of blossoms. The West Wind, Mudjekeewis, proves a faithless lover, the result of which is, that Wenonah taking it to heart, dies of grief, and the old crone Nokomis becomes the guardian of the young Hiawatha. His grandmother teaches the stripling many things, he gradually becomes acquainted with the different animals, and their peculiarities, learns the names of the different signs in the heavens, and proves himself a rare instance of the precocity of genius. In time, he cultivates the acquaintance of lagoo the great boaster, who makes a bow and arrows for Hiawatha, and literally teaches "the young idea how to shoot." Forth into the forest straightway All alone walked Hiawatha Froudly, with his bow and arrows; And the birds sang round him, o'er him, Up the oak-tree, close beside him, And the rabbit from his pathway "Do not shoot me, Hiawatha !" But he heeded not, nor heard them, To the ford across the river, Saw two eyes look from the thicket, Having shewn his facetious friends, the Opechee, the Owaissa, and the Adjidaumo, that he has higher game in his eye than they are, he is ambitious to prove himself a crack-shot, so taking steady aim, he shoots the arrow, kills the roebuck, and carries him home, where he receives the hearty congratulations of Iagoo and Nokomis. "Tempore ruricolæ patiens fit taurus aratro, And so, Time, the great teacher, accustoms Hiawatha to all the hardships of the hunter's life. Out of childhood into manhood Swift of foot was Hiawatha ; And run forward with such fleetness, He could shoot ten arrows upward, That the tenth had left the bow-string This forcibly reminds us of the verse, "Queen Bess was a charming woman, With manhood comes the love of adventure, and Hiawatha, who had a pair of mittens, Minjekahwun, which, when he wore, he could smite rocks into powder, and mocassons which enabled him to advance a mile in every stride, determines to find out Mudjekeewis, and punish him for his treachery to his mother. Having crossed the Mississippi, the mountains of the prairie, the land of crows and foxes, and the dwellings of the Blackfeet, he arrives at the residence of Mudjekeewis, "Ruler of the winds of Heaven." All who have ever been at a public school are aware of the pugilistic tendencies of boys, and Hiawatha, now a young man, retains all the quarrelsome spirit of early youth, though his mode of fighting is more terrible, than that of those who figure "in the fisty ring." Evincing an amount of pluck, which might have excited the envy of the Tipton Slasher, he exhibits what we are assured by various writers in Bell's Life, is "one of the best signs," and picking a quarrel with his father, he "comes to the fight laughing.' And he cried, "O Mudjekeewis, Tossed his gray hairs to the West-Wind, Then up started Hiawatha And with threatening look and gesture Smote aud crushed it into fragments, But the ruler of the West-Wind The combat lasts for three whole days, during the entire time of which Mudjekeewis retreated, fighting. At length the strife is put an end to, Mudjekeewis having informed Hiawatha, that, "he bears a charmed life." He instructs his son to go home, compliments him on his valour, and bids him slay all the monsters, magicians, giants, aud serpents, which infest the hunting grounds of his people. Hiawatha follows his advice, and departs homeward, calling on his way at the lodge of an arrow maker, of the tribe of the Dacotahs, who has got a handsome daughter, Minnehaha, Laughing Water, whose beauty you may well guess, and not the arrows of her father, was the principal cause of the visit. Our hero, like a true philanthropist, proposes to himself a fast, which has for its object the amelioration of the condition of his race. For three whole days he fasted without interruption, but on the evening of the fourth, he sees a youth approaching to him, dressed in garments of green and yellow. "Plumes of green bent o'er his forehead, The youth by name, Mondamin, informs Hiawatha that "he is the friend of Man, and is sent by "the Master of Life," to shew him, how by wrestling with him, (Mondamin), he may gain his prayer. Hiawatha wrestles with him for three con |