Lafayette Fairy Tales

Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: A renowned Western version, New bilingual interpretations of classic poems. Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Longfellow lived, is a picturesque city where the poet wrote many famous poems. The blacksmith and the village covered with chestnut trees he described are all in Cambridge. When the town expanded, the blacksmith shop moved, and the chestnut trees were cut down. The children at Cambridge schools raised money to buy this famous tree and made it into a chair to give to the poet. Longfellow was very interested in Native American culture. In "Song of Hiawatha," he interwove many ancient legends of North American Native Americans. Hiawatha is a legendary figure with different names in different tribes. It is said that he was sent by the gods to clear the rivers, purify the forests, and bring peace to the Native Americans.