"Thank you," he replied; "I am Hiawatha. I have come in search of the
body of my grandson, and to seek my revenge. Come near me that I may
put a medal round your neck as a reward for your information." The
bird unsuspectingly came near, and received a white medal, which can
be seen to this day. While bestowing the medal, he attempted slyly to
wring the bird's head off, but it escaped him, with only a disturbance
of the crown feathers of its head, which are rumpled backward. He
had found out all he wanted to know, and then desired to conceal the
knowledge obtained by killing his informant.

He went to the sandy beach indicated, and transformed himself into an
oak stump. He had not been there long before the lake became perfectly
calm. Soon hundreds of monstrous serpents came crawling on the beach.
One of the number was beautifully white. He was the Prince. The others
were red and yellow. The Prince spoke to those about him as follows:
"I never saw that black stump standing there before. It may be
Hiawatha. There is no knowing but that he may be somewhere about here.
He has the power of an evil genius, and we should be on our guard
against his wiles." One of the large serpents immediately went and
twisted himself around it to the top, and pressed it very hard. The
greatest pressure happened to be on his throat; he was just ready to
cry out when the serpent let go. Eight of them went in succession and
did the like, but always let go at the moment he was ready to cry out.
"It cannot be he," they said. "He is too great a weak-heart for that."
They then coiled themselves in a circle about their Prince. It was a
long time before they fell asleep. When they did so, Hiawatha, took
his bow and arrows, and cautiously stepping over the serpents till he
came to the Prince, drew up his arrow with the full strength of his
arm, and shot him in the left side. He then gave a saw-saw-quan and