Song of Hiawatha

This adaptation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's beloved epic poem celebrates the heroic deeds of the legendary Ojibway chief of miraculous birth, sent by the Great Spirit to lead his people. Fur trader Jean Bertrand, French priest Father Marcel and Indian interpreter O Kagh (Graham Greene) canoe through the Lake Superior region in search of Hiawatha. Tribesmen guide them to the lodge of his grandmother, Nokomis, where she and tribal elder Iagoo tell Hiawatha's story.
He was a child, they say, favored by the spirits and gods, and grew to be a great warrior and hunter fast, strong and smart in the ways of the forest, men and war. When his father Mudjekeewis left to take his place among the immortals in the Kingdom of the West Wind, Hiawatha's mother died of a broken heart. To avenge her, Hiawatha (Litefoot) sought out his father for a conflict that ended in Mudjekeewis's death. On the warrior's return, he was smitten by the beautiful Dakota maiden, Minnehaha, "Laughing Water", and persuaded her to be his wife.
His people established permanent dwellings and led a settled and more secure life. But there is an enemy among his own people--an ambitious warrior who envies Hiawatha's fame and the beauty of his wife. When sickness falls upon the tribe, Hiawatha goes to the Black Swamp to fight and destroy the evil magician, and bring back the medicine that will heal his people. But neither his daring nor the power of his love can save his cherished Minnehaha, who dies of a fever. A terrible vision reveals to Hiawatha the bleak future of the warring tribes, driven from the lands by the advancing whitesmen. At a council of tribal leaders, he shares with them the Great Spirit's message: there is strength for the Indians only if there is peace among the tribes. They must unite, one nation. Then, as his destiny commands, Hiawatha lets the river's current carry him in his canoe away from his people to join the immortals in the West. (Verleiher-Text)