The Naming of Hiawatha

First Nation, Rice Lake, Canada
By Donna S. McGillis

"By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water." H.W. Longfellow (1855)

   In 1855, when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809-1882) wrote his epic poem The Song of Hiawatha, he did not know that its romantic imagery and melodious native names would impress and inspire a young English prince. In the autumn of 1860, during his first Canadian visit, 19 year old H.R.H. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (1841-1910), was taken by train from Cobourg to Rice Lake to view the beautiful scenery. He was scheduled to cross Rice Lake by train over the Cobourg-Peterborough Railroad bridge and to visit the Rice Lake Indian Village, established in 1829 on the north shore. The bridge, however, was rumored to be unsafe and so the prince was taken off the train at Harwood and asked to board the steamer Otonabee. Nervous officials covered up by explaining it was done in order "that he might have a good view of the fir-covered islands which picturesquely dot the lake and also the beds of wild rice in blossom."1
   
   When Prince Edward arrived to greet the native subjects, on behalf of his mother, Queen Victoria, he was moved by the picturesque scene to name the village Hiawatha, after Longfellow's legendary hero.2   The name Hiawatha was accepted by the Ojibwa/Mississaugas even though the real Hiawatha was a member of the Iroquois Confederacy, their ancient enemy. The Hiawatha of history is "thought to have been a Mohawk Indian chief who founded the Iroquois Confederacy in New York state. Hiawatha's name and title were hereditary in the Tortoise clan of the Mohawk tribe. It is thought that he lived about 1570 in central New York. He was a social reformer interested in ending war and promoting universal peace among the Indian tribes."3

   Longfellow, however, wrote that his mythical Hiawatha and the scenes of his people are "among the Ojibways on the southern shore of Lake Superior, in the region between Pictured Rocks and Grand Sable".4 The inspiration for his poem was based on his interest in the traditions of North-American native peoples who lived on the shores of the Great Lakes. 

   In The Song of Hiawatha, Longfellow describes a legendary Indian hero who has many battles and contests and who married an Indian maiden named Minnehaha. Hiawatha "prepares his people for the coming of the white man and Christianity and departs from the earth to become a god of the Northwest Wind." Longfellow "used folklore, myth, heroic characters, and a natural grandeur to give a sense of Indian culture, ideals, and racial pride."5

   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born 27 February, 1807 in Portland, Maine. His ancestors settled in New England about 1651. Longfellow published his first poem when he was only 13 years of age. By the time he went to Harvard, as a professor of modern languages, he had a separate career in literature. When he retired from Harvard, in 1854, he had published 12 books. His first publication after he retired from teaching was The Song of Hiawatha, his second major narrative poem after Evangeline, published in 1847. The Song of Hiawatha "sold a million copies during Longfellow's lifetime and was considered a remarkable record for any book, and especially remarkable for poetry."6

   Before his death, in 1882, Longfellow achieved success and fame. He received honourary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge universities. The British people paid him the supreme accolade by placing a memorial bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. Longfellow is the only American so honoured. His works were translated into many languages and many people throughout the western world, including an adolescent prince, were enthralled by his images and tales of life in the North-American wilderness. Hiawatha, Ontario, Canada with its lofty church-steeple rising above the trees on the north shore of Rice Lake, continues to thrive, one hundred and fourty-one years after receiving its poetic name.

   Herewith is an excerpt from The Song of Hiawatha Chapter VIII Hiawatha's Fishing:

"OTake my bait!" cried Hiawatha
Down into the depths beneath him,
"Take my bait, O sturgeon, Nahma!
Come up from below the water,
Let us see which is the stronger!"
And he dropped his line of cedar
Through the clear, transparent water,
Waited vainly for an answer,
Long sat waiting for an answer,
And repeating loud and louder:
"Take my bait, O King of Fishes!"
Quiet lay the sturgeon, Nahma,
Fanning slowly in the water,
Looking up at Hiawatha,
Listening to his call and clamour,
His unnecessary tumult,
Till he wearied of the shouting;
And he said to the Kenozha,
To the pike, the Maskenozha:
"Take the bait of this rude fellow,
Break the line of Hiawatha!"