The Modern Hiawatha
He killed the noble Mudjokivis.
Of the skin he made him mittens,
Made them with the fur side inside,
Made them with the skin side outside.
He, to get the warm side inside,
Put the inside skin side outside.
He, to get the cold side outside,
Put the warm side fur side inside.
That's why he put the fur side inside,
Why he put the skin side outside,
Why he turned them inside outside.
Commentary
Yesterday, Martin wrote: “In some poems, though (Longfellow’s ‘Hiawatha’ is probably the most famous example) the form (and, in particular, the metre) stands out quite independent of the poem’s contents, and is often what the reader carries away as his chief impression of the poem (for instance, I could write a Hiawatha parody far more easily than I could quote much of the actual verse)”.
Truth to tell, ‘Parodies of Hiawatha’ probably qualifies as a poetic genre in itself… today’s offering is merely one of my favourite examples thereof. Beyond that, there’s really not much more I can say, is there?
— Thomas
Links
The complete ‘Song of Hiawatha’ is rather long; you can find it at http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/poems/hiawatha.html
An extract, ‘Hiawatha’s Departure’, has featured an the Minstrels; it’s archived at poem #362
In the commentary accompanying that extract, I mention another of my favourite Hiawatha spinoffs, Carroll’s hilarious ‘Hiawatha’s Photography’. You can read it (along with some wonderful illustrations by Arthur Frost) at
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~bhs2u/carroll/hia.html
Show 13 commentsHide comments
From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
John Baden · 21 May 2002
I had a teacher back in the fifties that made us read this poem. Each student had to read one line. You can imagine how funny that was to us 12 yr olds. The other night I dreamt about that and remembered to look for the poem.. Thanks for making it available. GO TIGERS
Judi Jarman · 19 April 2003
I also had to learn this poem, back in early 1960s. Recently I came across a volume of Longfellow’s poems. I looked everywhere for that strange contortion of skin side outside , fur inside in his poems and couldn’t find it anywhere although the style is very similar. I was delighted to come across Strong’s poem, the one that I remember. Thank you, you’ve taken me back nearly 40 years. Judi J NZ
Robert F. Jaffe · 30 June 2003
No one seems to have mentioned what I think I heard or read forty years ago, that the metre of “Hiawatha” was based on Finnish folk
poetry, among the many rather obscure and
arcane forms studied by Longfellow. Surely a metre and rhythm this strange, compared to
any prior English language poetry, had to be
imported from something relatively far away,
like Finnish folk poetry.
R. Jaffe
David Minott · 12 August 2003
I too, have been searching for “skin side inside” for many moons. While visiting my Aunt (about 50 years ago!) she would open the drawer of a table in her living room, and extract a book. She would then (in all seriousness) proceed to read Strong’s parody, which, naturally, tickled our “funny bones.” I wonder what book she cherished so dearly!
Dave
Robert Sayer · 14 September 2003
My Mother used to recite another version of Old Nokomis’ Mittens to me about 1930. We could go visit Minnihaha Falls, Manitou Island and White Bear Lake. It seemed to me it was a folk rhyme. When was Strong’s version written or did he just record a folk story?
Edward Elliott · 12 November 2003
I learned this poem as a 10 year old and have looked for it recently to bring along to a ‘recital’ dinner party as I so loved it. I remembered enough of the verse, but you supplied the rest - thanks so much Michele Elliott
Jim Rudnick · 6 December 2003
I first came across this poem in high school English class back in the mid sixties. We had to memorize it and then recite it in front of the class. You can just imagine what that was like. I’ve never forgotten it. Thanks for the memory.
Jim
Peter Sklar · 22 July 2004
I believe there is an error.
You say
He killed the noble Mudjokivis.
Of the skin he made him mittens,
Made them with the fur side inside,
Made them with the skin side outside.
He, to get the warm side inside,
Put the inside skin side outside.
He, to get the cold side outside,
Put the warm side fur side inside.
That’s why he put the fur side inside,
Why he put the skin side outside,
Why he turned them inside outside.
I think it should be
He killed the noble Mudjokivis.
Of the skin he made him mittens,
Made them with the fur side inside,
Made them with the skin side outside.
He, to get the warm side inside,
Put the cold side skin side outside.
He, to get the cold side outside,
Put the warm side fur side inside.
That’s why he put the fur side inside,
Why he put the skin side outside,
Why he turned them inside outside.
PEPPERPACK · 28 May 2005
It’s been a long time since I saw it, but I think Victor McLaglen (as Irish Sgt. “Mac” MacChesney) did a fine rendition of this parody in the 1939 film “Gunga Din” with Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Sam Jaffe. Perhaps it was in another of his trademark “Irish sergeant” film rôles.
Steven Chostler
Denver, Colorado
Nick Prior · 3 August 2005
Always my childrens favorite, (although they knew not Hiawatha.)
alex · 12 October 2005
I hate to tell you but this is not entirely yours. I first encountered (the bulk of it) in the early? 60’s in one of my father’s joke-books, during my childhood in Upstate New York. some toast master thing he had. nice touches though.
Best wishes,
Alex Brunel (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Anne Awh - Early Stuff Productions · 27 November 2006
———————————————- Anne
www.earlystuffproductions.com
———————————————– I have used my own version of this Strong parody to remember how to set tulip bulbs in a pot:
Plant them with the flat side outside
Put them with the round side inside
Never knew it wasn’t original Longfellow until today.
Marv C.
Mary DeCarlo · 25 April 2008
I am wondering if Judi Jarman who responded to this Web Site used to live in Fairfax, VA. Mary