Part X: Hiawatha's Wooing Summary

Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.

  • While he's been having his great adventures, Hiawatha has been dreaming of Minnehaha, the daughter of the arrowhead maker he met earlier in the story.
  • Nokomis knows of her grandson's love and she advises him to marry someone from his own people. She doesn't want Hiawatha marrying some lazy and cruel woman just because she's physically beautiful.
  • Hiawatha says he'll bring Minnehaha home and then Nokomis will see what a great woman Minnehaha is. Plus he thinks that marrying someone from the Dacotah tribe will help repair the relations between their peoples.
  • With that, Hiawatha sets off for Minnehaha's place. He meets her father and asks him for permission to marry Minnehaha. The arrowhead maker hesitates before agreeing, so long as Minnehaha wants the marriage too.
  • Minnehaha acts shyly at first, but accepts Hiawatha's proposal and travels home with him as his wife.
  • Minnehaha's dad muses about how sad it is for his daughter to leave home. But he accepts that life must go on.
  • Hiawatha carries Minnehaha the whole way home. All the animals sing with joy like they would in some Disney movie.