"Song of Hiawatha," Chs. VI, VII and VIII

[bdNM]

VI -- "Hiawatha's Friends" -- here, Hiawatha is joined by his two best friends, the musician, Chibiabos, and the big lummox, Kwasind.  He likes them both, Chibiabos for his talent, and Kwasind for his loyalty.

VII -- "Hiawatha's Sailing" -- Hiawatha makes a canoe, invoking the various trees of the forest for their wood to make the canoe stronger.  He also beseeches the hedgehog to give of his quills to decorate the boat.

VIII -- "Hiawatha's Fishing" -- Hiawatha v. the sturgeon, the King of Fishes...

Any thoughts on these sections of the poem? 

[Lmfwhite]

In a previous section, I had been discussing similarities between situations in the poem and in the Bible.  In Chapter VIII - Hiawatha's Fishing - when the sturgeon swallowed Hiawatha and his canoe, I thought of the very familiar biblical story of Jonah and the whale.

[bdNM]

That occurred to me too, though the whale (or whatever the creature is) swallowing Jonah is not killed by Jonah, and Jonah is taken by the whale at God's command to bring him back to do his job. Still, it does resonate.  But there are lots of "in the belly of the beast" sorts of stories.  I think that from a Freudian perspective, it may have something to do with a sense of being reborn.