Hiawatha

Hiawatha, the name by which the Iroquois call a personage of miraculous birth (elsewhere amongst the North American Indians known as Michabou, Chiabo, &c.) sent amongst them to clear the rivers and forests, and teach the arts of peace. Longfellow's poem (1842) is based on Schoolcraft's version of the tradition ('Algie Researches,' 1839; republished as The Myth of Hiawatha, 1856).