While researching the name Hiawatha for a completely unrelated subject (girl's high school basketball), I came upon Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. Within the poem I found many names and words related to canoes and canoeing, the (Ojibwa legend) origin of which I had never thought about.
Wenonah was the mother of Hiawatha.
Nokomis was the mother of Wenonah.
Minnehaha was the wife of Hiawatha.
Cheemaun was Hiawatha's magical birch bark canoe, which he could propel and control just by his thoughts.
Keewaydin was the northwest (or home) wind.
In Chapter VII of the poem, which I recommend reading, Longfellow poetically describes in detail exactly how Hiawatha built his birch bark Cheemaun on the shores of the Taquamenaw River, which ultimately empties into the "waters of Pauwating" (Ojibwa for Sault Saint Marie): bark from the birch, frame from the cedar, fiber from the roots of the tamarack-larch, resin from the fir, decorations from hedgehog quills.
And then:
"Thus the Birch Canoe was builded
In the valley, by the river,
In the bosom of the forest;
And the forest's life was in it,
All its mystery and its magic,
All the lightness of the birch-tree,
All the toughness of the cedar,
All the larch's supple sinews;
And it floated on the river
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily.
Paddles none had Hiawatha,
Paddles none he had or needed,
For his thoughts as paddles served him,
And his wishes served to guide him;
Swift or slow at will he glided,
Veered to right or left at pleasure."
. . . .
"And thus sailed my Hiawatha
Down the rushing Taquamenaw,
Sailed through all its bends and windings,
Sailed through all its deeps and shallows,
While his friend, the strong man, Kwasind,
Swam the deeps, the shallows waded.
Up and down the river went they,
In and out among its islands,
Cleared its bed of root and sand-bar,
Dragged the dead trees from its channel,
Made its passage safe and certain,
Made a pathway for the people,
From its springs among the mountains,
To the waters of Pauwating,
To the bay of Taquamenaw."
Wenonah was the mother of Hiawatha.
Nokomis was the mother of Wenonah.
Minnehaha was the wife of Hiawatha.
Cheemaun was Hiawatha's magical birch bark canoe, which he could propel and control just by his thoughts.
Keewaydin was the northwest (or home) wind.
In Chapter VII of the poem, which I recommend reading, Longfellow poetically describes in detail exactly how Hiawatha built his birch bark Cheemaun on the shores of the Taquamenaw River, which ultimately empties into the "waters of Pauwating" (Ojibwa for Sault Saint Marie): bark from the birch, frame from the cedar, fiber from the roots of the tamarack-larch, resin from the fir, decorations from hedgehog quills.
And then:
"Thus the Birch Canoe was builded
In the valley, by the river,
In the bosom of the forest;
And the forest's life was in it,
All its mystery and its magic,
All the lightness of the birch-tree,
All the toughness of the cedar,
All the larch's supple sinews;
And it floated on the river
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily.
Paddles none had Hiawatha,
Paddles none he had or needed,
For his thoughts as paddles served him,
And his wishes served to guide him;
Swift or slow at will he glided,
Veered to right or left at pleasure."
. . . .
"And thus sailed my Hiawatha
Down the rushing Taquamenaw,
Sailed through all its bends and windings,
Sailed through all its deeps and shallows,
While his friend, the strong man, Kwasind,
Swam the deeps, the shallows waded.
Up and down the river went they,
In and out among its islands,
Cleared its bed of root and sand-bar,
Dragged the dead trees from its channel,
Made its passage safe and certain,
Made a pathway for the people,
From its springs among the mountains,
To the waters of Pauwating,
To the bay of Taquamenaw."
