E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Minneha’ha [Laughing-water].
The lovely daughter of the old arrow-maker of the Daco’tahs, and wife of Hiawath’a. She died of famine. Two guests came uninvited into Hiawatha’s wigwam, and the foremost said, “Behold me! I am Famine;” and the other said, “Behold me! I am Fever;” and Minnehaha shuddered to look on them, and hid her face, and lay trembling, freezing, burning, at the looks they cast upon her. “Ah!” cried Laughing-water, “the eyes of Pauguk [death] glare upon me, I can feel his icy fingers clasping mine amidst the darkness,” and she died crying, “Hiawatha! Hiawatha!” (Long-fellow: Hiawatha.)
