Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- Now that he's got a canoe, Hiawatha decides that he wants to catch the King of All Fishes, which is a sturgeon named Mishe-Nahma.
- Hiawatha finds the sturgeon hanging out at the bottom of the river. Hiawatha taunts the fish to a test of strength. But Mishe-Nahma is annoyed and sends a pike to challenge Hiawatha instead. Hiawatha makes short work of the pike, so Mishe-Nahma then sends a sunfish. Again, Hiawatha gets the better of him.
- Finally, Mishe-Nahma accepts the challenge and takes Hiawatha's line. There is a fierce battle and Mishe-Nahma swallows Hiawatha and his canoe. Hiawatha travels down into Mishe-Nahma's belly and punches the fish right in the heart.
- A squirrel helps Hiawatha save his canoe from being destroyed inside Mishe-Nahma. Then Hiawatha can tell that Mishe-Nahma has died from the punch to the heart that Hiawatha gave him. (Internal heart punches tend to have that effect.)
- The next thing you know, Hiawatha can hear a bunch of seagulls gathering around the body of Mishe-Nahma. He asks them to eat quickly so that he and his canoe can get out of the fish. The seagulls are happy to oblige since they planned on gorging themselves either way.
- Hiawatha escapes and heads home to tell his grandmother about the body of Mishe-Nahma. But he tells her to let the seagulls have their fill before she, or any other villagers, goes to get meat from Mishe-Nahma.
- For three days afterward, the seagulls return to feast on Mishe-Nahma until there's nothing left but the fish's bones.