Classics and the Western Canon discussion

This week’s reading includes:

XIV - Picture -Writing
XV. - Hiawatha’s Lamentation
XVI - Pau-Puk-Keewis
XVII - The Hunting of Pau-Puk-Keewis

Picture-Writing — Hiawatha invents a writing system that uses pictures for his people to capture “…the great traditions/ The achievements of the warriors/ The adventures of the hunters/ All the wisdom of the Medas,/ All the craft of the Wabenos,/ All the marvelous dreams and visions/ Of the Jossakeeds, the Prophets!”

Hiawatha’s Lamentation — Chibiabos goes hunting alone on the frozen Big-Sea-Water, is ambushed by Evil Spirits, and drowns. Hiawatha mourns the death of his friend. The medicine men, magicians, and prophets build a Sacred Lodge for healing his grief. They also summon Chibiabos so his spirit can travel “..To the kingdom of Ponemah,/ To the land of the Hereafter.”

Pau-Puk-Keewis — The young men of the village are listening to Iagoo’s stories when Pau-Puk-Keewis interrupts. He teaches them how to play Bowl and Counters, which is a gambling game, and takes all their goods, including Iagoo’s nephew to be his attendant and pipe-bearer. He then goes to Hiawatha’s lodge, kills Kahgahgee the raven and creates “wild disorder” to taunt Hiawatha, Nokomis, and Minnehaha. Then, he walks through the woods and climbs “the rocky headlands/…Perched himself upon their summit,/ Waiting full of mirth and mischief/ The return of Hiawatha.” While he waits, he slaughters hundreds of wild birds, “Hiawatha’s mountain chickens.”

The Hunting of Pau-Puk-Keewis — When Hiawatha hears “of all the misdemeanors,/ All the malice and the mischief,/ Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis,” he vows to find and kill him. He chases and Pau-Puk-Keewis flees. He tries hiding with the beavers and is caught and killed. But his spirit lives on so the chase continues. Pau-Puk-Keewis tries hiding with a flock of brant, and is again caught and killed. But his spirit escapes and hides deep in a mountain cave with the help of the Manito of Mountains. Hiawatha can’t get in and calls on the aid of the thunder and lightening to finally make an end of Pau-Puk-Keewis. Hiawatha then takes “his soul, his ghost, his shadow” and turns Pau-Puk-Keewis to the war-eagle, Kenua.

Questions:

— Was Pau-Puk-Keewis just lucky at Bowl and Counters, or did he cheat? What did he do that merited a death sentence?

— In this week’s reading, we see the legendary Hiawatha in his invention of picture-writing and his pursuit of Pau-Puk-Keewis and the human side of Hiawatha in his grief for his friend. Was there any section in this week’s reading that particularly stood out for you?

Maybe P-P-K cheated and maybe he didn't, but the moral of the story is that gambling is bad.

Susan wrote: "Was Pau-Puk-Keewis just lucky at Bowl and Counters, or did he cheat? What did he do that merited a death sentence?"

Pau-Puk-Keewis is a trouble or mischief maker. He is intentionally disturbing the peace in the village. Nobody wants anything to do with him when he walks the village in the morning, he is effectively shunned. Maybe it is the perspective of the hunter-gatherer society where the margins between survival and death are so much more narrow and therefore the punishment for mischief is harsher.

Of their treasures had despoiled them.
Of the best of all their dresses,
Shirts of deer-skin, robes of ermine,
Belts of wampum, crests of feathers,
Warlike weapons, pipes and pouches.

All of these items are handmade. How many hours does it take to hunt a deer, skin it, make leather from the skin, make thread from sinew, then sew and perhaps embellish a shirt? It isn't so easy to replace these items, perhaps some of this work is only done seasonally. In other words, P-P-K did real damage.

Roger wrote: "Maybe P-P-K cheated and maybe he didn't, but the moral of the story is that gambling is bad."

That may be what the poem is implying, but I wondered if Pau-Puk-Keewis’s main failing was taking too much advantage of his skill and good luck to win again and again at the expense of everyone else. He seems out of balance with both the group and nature, as when he carelessly slaughters the songbirds for no particular reason.

Here’s the initial description of Pau-Puk-Keewis in Book IX, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast:

“Skilled was he in sports and pastimes,
In the merry dance of snow-shoes,
In the play of quoits and ball-play;
Skilled was he in games of hazard,
In all games of skill and hazard,
Pugasaing, the Bowl and Counters,
Kuntassoo, the Game of Plum-stones.
Though the warriors called him Faint-Heart,
Called him coward, Shaugodaya,
Idler, gambler, Yenadizze,
Little heeded he their jesting,
Little cared he for their insults,
For the women and the maidens
Loved the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis.

He was dressed in shirt of doe-skin,
White and soft, and fringed with ermine,
All inwrought with beads of wampum;
He was dressed in deer-skin leggings,
Fringed with hedgehog quills and ermine,
And in moccasins of buck-skin,
Thick with quills and beads embroidered,
On his head were plumes of swan’s down,
On his heels were tails of foxes,
In one hand a fan of feathers,
And a pipe was in the other.”

After reading Kerstin’s comment above, I started wondering where he got all his beautiful clothes. Is he wearing his winnings from previous games? Or was he dressed so finely by the women’s indulgence?

Kerstin wrote: "Pau-Puk-Keewis is a trouble or mischief maker. He is intentionally disturbing the peace in the village… All of these items are handmade. How many hours does it take to hunt a deer, skin it, make leather from the skin, make thread from sinew, then sew and perhaps embellish a shirt? It isn't so easy to replace these items, perhaps some of this work is only done seasonally. In other words, P-P-K did real damage..."

Good point! At Hiawatha’s wedding, he is portrayed as idle and a gambler, but he contributes to the celebration by his dances, “That the feast may be more joyous,/ That the time may pass more gayly,/ And our guests be more contented.”. But here his actions cross the line of what behavior will be tolerated. He has alienated Iagoo and the other men: “Twenty eyes glared at him fiercely,/ Like the eyes of wolves glared at him.” And he thumbs his nose at Hiawatha annd his family almost gratuitously.

I was taken with the Chap XIV. I had always thought of most indigenous or more specifically cultures before they learned to write to have a strong oral tradition to pass down their stories, mythology, traditions etc. So the lines about losing wisdom & traditions when "great men die and are forgotten" were striking!
I found the whole chapter so interesting in how Longfellow described the various symbols so that people from all tribes could interpret them. I wonder if he got that information from his own reading on Native Americans and just made his hero, Hiawatha the inventor of this symbolic language.

I was sad to read of the death of the delightful Chibiabos.

Susan wrote: "Roger wrote: "Maybe P-P-K cheated and maybe he didn't, but the moral of the story is that gambling is bad."

That may be what the poem is implying, but I wondered if Pau-Puk-Keewis’s main failing w..."

For me, it does not seem important if he cheated or not, the remaining fact is that he was not a "respectful" player, it would be fairplay to stop when a player gained enough or noticed that the others were losing too much. But he just kept going and going... In the end, I think his "death sentence" came from the same problem the ravens had: their attitude was disrespectful with others, with the community, with Hiawatha.

Susan wrote: "This week’s reading includes:

XIV - Picture -Writing
XV. - Hiawatha’s Lamentation
XVI - Pau-Puk-Keewis
XVII - The Hunting of Pau-Puk-Keewis

Picture-Writing — Hiawatha invents a writing system tha..."

Regarding your question as which section stood out, I think it was Hiawatha's reaction after Chibiabos' death. He was mourning so sadly, it seems he was actually depressed and needed help to come back after that. And although it is common to have epic heros losing someone close as part of their epic journey, I think it was remarkable that he was not revengeful but just sad. I would expect him to go after the evil spirits as, at the beginning of the chapter, he seems to be aware of their jealousy and plots. But he never mentions it later and I think it made him look very human to see his battle with this loss.

Oh, on a side note, it also strikes me that Hiawatha's mourning period took seven weeks, just like we do in Japanese tradition.

The animals and the trees grieve with Hiawatha over the death of Chibiabos. So they're obviously sensitive to what happens to humans. I'm curious as to why the animals try to rescue Pau-Puk-Keewis.

Since he disrespects the community, insults Hiawatha, and slaughters birds for no reason, he is obviously violating the moral codes of the community. But the beaver and brant are willing to help him by transforming him into a bigger version of themselves. I would have thought the animals would side with the community and ostracize him. Instead, they help him. I'm wondering why. Their behavior doesn't seem to fit with what we've read so far--at least, I can't make it fit.

Tamara wrote: "The animals and the trees grieve with Hiawatha over the death of Chibiabos. So they're obviously sensitive to what happens to humans. I'm curious as to why the animals try to rescue Pau-Puk-Keewis...."

Good point, Tamara. it seems that Pau-Puk-Keewis fooled the beavers with his nice talking about the waters and the beavers' lodges. So the beavers were nice to him, without knowing about his misbehavings. We may also think the same about the brants - but then they helped him even after Hiawatha showed up, so I am not so sure about this. And then the Manito of the Mountain clearly protected him against Hiawatha.

It seems Pau-Puk-Keewis was a very charming guy after all. Or maybe the animals and the Manito felt that Hiawatha was way too angry and it would be wise to spare Pau-Puk-Keewis for a while.