Hiawatha was living with his grandmother near the edge of a wide
prairie. On this prairie he first saw animals and birds of every
kind. He there also saw exhibitions of divine power in the sweeping
tempests, in the thunder and lightning, and the various shades of
light and darkness which form a never ending scene for observation.
Every new sight he beheld in the heavens was a subject of remark;
every new animal or bird an object of deep interest; and every sound
uttered by the animal creation a new lesson, which he was expected to
learn. He often trembled at what he heard and saw. To this scene his
grandmother sent him at an early age to watch. The first sound he
heard was that of an owl, at which he was greatly terrified, and
quickly descending the tree he had climbed, he ran with alarm to the
lodge. "Noko! Noko!" (grandma) he cried, "I have heard a momendo." She
laughed at his fears, and asked him what kind of a noise it made. He
answered, "It makes a noise like this: Ko-ko-ko-ho." She told him
that he was young and foolish; that what he had heard was only a bird,
deriving its name from the noise it made.

He went back and continued his watch. While there, he thought to
himself, "It is singular that I am so simple, and my grandmother so
wise, and that I have neither father nor mother. I have never heard a
word about them. I must ask and find out." He went home and sat down
silent and dejected. At length his grandmother asked him, "Hiawatha,
what is the matter with you?" He answered, "I wish you would tell me
whether I have any parents living and who my relatives are." Knowing
that he was of a wicked and revengeful disposition, she dreaded
telling him the story of his parentage, but he insisted on her
compliance. "Yes," she said, "you have a father and three brothers
living. Your mother is dead. She was taken without the consent of her
parents by your father the West. Your brothers are the North, East,