"Then the grateful Hiawatha

Called the Mama, the woodpecker,

From his perch among the branches

Of the melancholy pine-tree,

And, in honor of his service,

Stained with blood the tuft of feathers

On the little head of Mama;

Even to this day he wears it,

Wears the tuft of crimson feathers

As a symbol of his service"

 

The Song of Hiawatha: Hiawatha and the Pearl-Feather

by H. W. Longfellow