“As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman;
Though she bends him, she obeys him,
“Though she draws him, yet she follows;
Useless each without the other!”
Thus the youthful Hiawatha
Said within himself and pondered,
Much perplexed by various feelings,
Listless, longing, hoping, fearing,
Dreaming still of Minnehaha,
Of the lovely Laughing Water,
In the land of the Dacotahs.”
from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry W. Longfellow
Minnehaha Park got its first statue in 1912 when Jacob Fjelde’s depiction of Hiawatha carrying Minnehaha across the creek was placed on an island above the falls. The statue was created for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. A native of Norway, Fjelde’s was a prolific sculptor and portrait artist. In 1887 he followed his father to America and settled in Minneapolis . Fjelde’s other works in the city include Loring Park’s statue of Norwegian violin virtuoso and the Minerva bronze sculpture in the downtown library. Fjelde is also responsible for a bust of Ibsen, located in the Como Park, Zoo, and Conservatory.
