History Bytes: Song of Hiawatha
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Significant portions of The Bright Eyed Sisters were inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha…
Written in 1855, ‘The Song of Hiawatha’ was a long-form poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He tells a tale of an Ojibwa man named Hiawatha and his paramour Minnehaha. Their tale is formed from a collage of Ojibwa/Chippewa tales and legends, combined with Longfellow’s own experiences and relationships among the Chippewa. The poem represents Longfellow’s ‘love letter’ to the Lake Superior shorelines of Michigan and Minnesota, and to the fading Ojibwa influence in the region. Longfellow was deeply impacted by his love for Ojibwa culture and heritage, and he correlated much of their spiritual practices with his own Christian beliefs.
In The Bright Eyed Sisters, Penny and Barnett meet May and Eugene, who are both practitioners of the old Ojibwa traditions. Penny and Barnett’s interactions with the couple grant them valuable insight into the nature of their supernatural existence. For the purposes of the story, this grounds the more fantastical elements of the ‘siren’ into real life Ojibwa lore. And, while The Bright Eyed Sisters explores a fictional universe, the story consistently points to the far deeper themes found in ‘Hiawatha’.
Thus said Hiawatha, walking
In the solitary forest,
Pondering, musing in the forest,
On the welfare of his people.
From his pouch he took his colors,
Took his paints of different colors,
On the smooth bark of a birch-tree
Painted many shapes and figures,
Wonderful and mystic figures,
And each figure had a meaning,
Each some word or thought suggested.
Gitche Manito the Mighty,
He, the Master of Life, was painted
As an egg, with points projecting
To the four winds of the heavens.
Everywhere is the Great Spirit,
Was the meaning of this symbol.
XIV. Picture-Writing
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