ACT I.
Shaman
(Looking up hillside.)
Red Cloud is late.
Old Man
(After inspection of hillside.)
He has chased the deer far. He is patient.
In the chase he is patient like an old man.
Shaman
His feet are as fleet as the deer's.
Old Man
(Nodding.)
And he is more patient than the deer.
Shaman
(Assertively, as if inculcating a lesson.)
He is a mighty chief.
Old Man
(Nodding.)
His father was a mighty chief. He is like to
his father.
Shaman
(More assertively.)
He is his father. It is so spoken. He is
his father's father. He is the first man, the
first Red Cloud, ever born, and born again, to
chiefship of his people.
Old Man
It is so spoken.
Shaman
His father was the Coyote. His mother was
the Moon. And he was the first man.
Old Man
(Repeating.)
His father was the Coyote. His mother was
the Moon. And he was the first man.
Shaman
He planted the first acorns, and he is very
wise.
Old Man
(Repeating.)
He planted the first acorns, and he is very
wise.
(Cries from the women and a turning of
faces. Red Cloud appears among his
hunters descending the hillside. All
carry spears, and bows and arrows.
Some carry rabbits and other small
game. Several carry deer)
PLAINT OF THE NISHINAM
Red Cloud, the meat-bringer!
Red Cloud, the acorn-planter!
Red Cloud, first man of the Nishinam!
Thy people hunger.
Far have they fared.
Hard has the way been.
Day long they sought,
High in the mountains,
Deep in the pools,
Wide 'mong the grasses,
In the bushes, and tree-tops,
Under the earth and flat stones.
Few are the acorns,
Past is the time for berries,
Fled are the fishes, the prawns and the grasshoppers,
Blown far are the grass-seeds,
Flown far are the young birds,
Old are the roots and withered.
Built are the fires for the meat.
Laid are the boughs for sleep,
Yet thy people cannot sleep.
Red Cloud, thy people hunger.
Red Cloud
(Still descending.)
Good hunting! Good hunting!
Hunters
Good hunting! Good hunting!
(Completing the descent, Red Cloud
motions to the meat-bearers. They throw
down their burdens before the women,
who greedily inspect the spoils.)
MEAT SONG OF THE NISHINAM
Meat that is good to eat,
Tender for old teeth,
Gristle for young teeth,
Big deer and fat deer,
Lean meat and fat meat,
Haunch-meat and knuckle-bone,
Liver and heart.
Food for the old men,
Life for all men,
For women and babes.
Easement of hunger-pangs,
Sorrow destroying,
Laughter provoking,
Joy invoking,
In the smell of its smoking
And its sweet in the mouth.
(The younger women take charge of the meat,
and the older women resume their acorn-pounding.)
(Red Cloud approaches the acorn-pounders
and watches them with pleasure.
All group about him, the Shaman to the
fore, and hang upon his every action, his
every utterance.)
Red Cloud
The heart of the acorn is good?
First Old Woman
(Nodding.)
It is good food.
Red Cloud
When you have pounded and winnowed and
washed away the bitter.
Second Old Woman
As thou taught'st us, Red Cloud, when the
world was very young and thou wast the first man.
Red Cloud
It is a fat food. It makes life, and life is good.
Shaman
It was thou, Red Cloud, gathering the acorns
and teaching the storing, who gavest life to the
Nishinam in the lean years aforetime, when the
tribes not of the Nishinam passed like the dew
of the morning.
(He nods a signal to the Old Man.)
Old Man
In the famine in the old time,
When the old man was a young man,
When the heavens ceased from raining,
When the grasslands parched and withered,
When the fishes left the river,
And the wild meat died of sickness,
In the tribes that knew not acorns,
All their women went dry-breasted,
All their younglings chewed the deer-hides,
All their old men sighed and perished,
And the young men died beside them,
Till they died by tribe and totem,
And o'er all was death upon them.
Yet the Nishinam unvanquished,
Did not perish by the famine.
Oh, the acorns Red Cloud gave them!
Oh, the acorns Red Cloud taught them
How to store in willow baskets
'Gainst the time and need of famine!
Shaman
(Who, throughout the Old Man's recital, has
nodded approbation, turning to Red
Cloud.)
Sing to thy people, Red Cloud, the song of
life which is the song of the acorn.
Red Cloud
(Making ready to begin)
And which is the song of woman, O Shaman.
Shaman
(Hushing the people to listen, solemnly)
He sings with his father's lips, and with the
lips of his father's fathers to the beginning of time
and men.
SONG OF THE FIRST MAN
Red Cloud
I am Red Cloud,
The first man of the Nishinam.
My father was the Coyote.
My mother was the Moon.
The Coyote danced with the stars,
And wedded the Moon on a mid-summer night
The Coyote is very wise,
The Moon is very old,
Mine is his wisdom,
Mine is her age.
I am the first man.
I am the life-maker and the father of life.
I am the fire-bringer.
The Nishinam were the first men,
And they were without fire,
And knew the bite of the frost of bitter nights.
The panther stole the fire from the East,
The fox stole the fire from the panther,
The ground squirrel stole the fire from the fox,
And I, Red Cloud, stole the fire from the ground squirrel.
I, Red Cloud, stole the fire for the Nishinam,
And hid it in the heart of the wood.
To this day is the fire there in the heart of the wood.
I am the Acorn-Planter.
I brought down the acorns from heaven.
I planted the short acorns in the valley.
I planted the long acorns in the valley.
I planted the black-oak acorns that sprout, that sprout!
I planted the sho-kum and all the roots of the ground.
I planted the oat and the barley, the beaver-tail grass-nut,
The tar-weed and crow-foot, rock lettuce and ground lettuce,
And I taught the virtue of clover in the season of blossom,
The yellow-flowered clover, ball-rolled in its yellow dust.
I taught the cooking in baskets by hot stones from the fire,
Took the bite from the buckeye and soap-root
By ground-roasting and washing in the sweetness of water,
And of the manzanita the berry I made into flour,
Taught the way of its cooking with hot stones in sand pools,
And the way of its eating with the knobbed tail of the deer.
Taught I likewise the gathering and storing,
The parching and pounding
Of the seeds from the grasses and grass-roots;
And taught I the planting of seeds in the Nishinam home-camps,
In the Nishinam hills and their valleys,
In the due times and seasons,
To sprout in the spring rains and grow ripe in the sun.
Shaman
Hail, Red Cloud, the first man!
The People
Hail, Red Cloud, the first man!
Shaman
Who showedst us the way of our feet in the world!
The People
Who showedst us the way of our feet in the world!
Shaman
Who showedst us the way of our food in the world!
The People
Who showedst us the way of our food in the world!
Shaman
Who showedst us the way of our hearts in the world!
The People
Who showedst us the way of our hearts in the world!
Shaman
Who gavest us the law of family!
The People
Who gavest us the law of family!
Shaman
The law of tribe!
The People
The law of tribe!
Shaman
The law of totem!
The People
The law of totem!
Shaman
And madest us strong in the world among men!
The People
And madest us strong in the world among men!
Red Cloud
Life is good, O Shaman, and I have sung but
half its song. Acorns are good. So is woman
good. Strength is good. Beauty is good. So is
kindness good. Yet are all these things without
power except for woman. And by these things
woman makes strong men, and strong men make
for life, ever for more life.
War Chief
(With gesture of interruption that causes
remonstrance from the Shaman but which
Red Cloud acknowledges.)
I care not for beauty. I desire strength in
battle and wind in the chase that I may kill my
enemy and run down my meat.
Red Cloud
Well spoken, O War Chief. By voices in
council we learn our minds, and that, too, is
strength. Also, is it kindness. For kindness
and strength and beauty are one. The eagle in
the high blue of the sky is beautiful. The salmon
leaping the white water in the sunlight is beautiful.
The young man fastest of foot in the race
is beautiful. And because they fly well, and leap
well, and run well, are they beautiful. Beauty
must beget beauty. The ring-tail cat begets
the ring-tail cat, the dove the dove. Never
does the dove beget the ring-tail cat. Hearts
must be kind. The little turtle is not kind.
That is why it is the little turtle. It lays its
eggs in the sun-warm sand and forgets its young
forever. And the little turtle is forever the
Kttle turtle. But we are not little turtles,
because we are kind. We do not leave our young
to the sun in the sand. Our women keep our
young warm under their hearts, and, after, they
keep them warm with deer-skin and campfire.
Because we are kind we are men and not little
turtles, and that is why we eat the little turtle
that is not strong because it is not kind.
War Chief
(Gesturing to be heard.)
The Modoc come against us in their strength.
Often the Modoc come against us. We cannot
be kind to the Modoc.
Red Cloud
That will come after. Kindness grows. First
must we be kind to our own. After, long after,
all men will be kind to all men, and all men will
be very strong. The strength of the Nishinam
is not the strength of its strongest fighter. It is
the strength of all the Nishinam added together
that makes the Nishinam strong. We talk, you
and I, War Chief and First Man, because we are
kind one to the other, and thus we add together
our wisdom, and all the Nishinam are stronger
because we have talked.
(A voice is heard singing. Red Cloud
holds up his hand for silence.)
MATING SONG
Dew-Woman
In the morning by the river,
In the evening at the fire,
In the night when all lay sleeping,
Torn was I with life's desire.
There were stirrings 'neath my heart-beats
Of the dreams that came to me;
In my ears were whispers, voices,
Of the children yet to be.
Red Cloud
(As Red Cloud sings, Dew-Woman
steals from behind a tree and approaches
him.)
In the morning by the river
Saw I first my maid of dew,
Daughter of the dew and dawnlight,
Of the dawn and honey-dew.
She was laughter, she was sunlight,
Woman, maid, and mate, and wife;
She was sparkle, she was gladness,
She was all the song of life.
Dew-Woman
In the night I built my fire,
Fire that maidens foster when
In the ripe of mating season
Each builds for her man of men.
Red Cloud
In the night I sought her, proved her,
Found her ease, content, and rest,
After day of toil and struggle
Man's reward on woman's breast.
Dew-Woman
Came to me my mate and lover;
Kind the hands he laid on me;
Wooed me gently as a man may,
Father of the race to be.
Red Cloud
Soft her arms about me bound me,
First man of the Nishinam,
Arms as soft as dew and dawnlight,
Daughter of the Nishinam.
Red Cloud
She was life and she was woman!
Dew-Woman
He was life and he was man!
Red Cloud and Dew-Woman
(Arms about each other.)
In the dusk-time of our love-night,
There beside the marriage fire,
Proved we all the sweets of living,
In the arms of our desire.
War Chief
(Angrily.)
The councils of men are not the place for
women.
Red Cloud
(Gently.)
As men grow kind and wise there will be
women in the councils of men. As men grow
their women must grow with them if they would
continue to be the mothers of men.
War Chief
It is told of old time that there are women in
the councils of the Sim. And is it not told that
the Sun Man will destroy us?
Red Cloud
Then is the Sun Man the stronger; it may be
because of his kindness and wiseness, and because
of his women.
Young Brave
Is it told that the women of the Sun are good
to the eye, soft to the arm, and a fire in the heart
of man?
Shaman
(Holding up hand solemnly.)
It were well, lest the young do not forget, to
repeat the old word again.
War Chief
(Nodding confirmation.)
Here, where the tale is told.
(Pointing to the spring.)
Here, where the water burst from under the heel
of the Sun Man mounting into the sky.
(War Chief leads the way up the hillside
to the spring, and signals to the Old Man
to begin)
Old Man
When the world was in the making,
Here within the mighty forest,
Came the Sun Man every morning.
White and shining was the Sun Man,
Blue his eyes were as the sky-blue,
Bright his hair was as dry grass is,
Warm his eyes were as the sun is,
Fruit and flower were in his glances;
All he looked on grew and sprouted,
As these trees we see about us,
Mightiest trees in all the forest,
For the Sun Man looked upon them.
Where his glance fell grasses seeded,
Where his feet fell sprang upstarting—
Buckeye woods and hazel thickets,
Berry bushes, manzanita,
Till his pathway was a garden,
Flowing after like a river,
Laughing into bud and blossom.
There was never frost nor famine
And the Nishinam were happy,
Singing, dancing through the seasons,
Never cold and never hungered,
When the Sun Man lived among us.
But the foxes mean and cunning,
Hating Nishinam and all men,
Laid their snares within this forest,
Caught the Sun Man in the morning,
With their ropes of sinew caught him,
Bound him down to steal his wisdom
And become themselves bright Sun Men,
Warm of glance and fruitful-footed,
Masters of the frost and famine.
Swiftly the Coyote running
Came to aid the fallen Sun Man,
Swiftly killed the cunning foxes,
Swiftly cut the ropes of sinew,
Swiftly the Coyote freed him.
But the Sun Man in his anger,
Lightning flashing, thunder-throwing,
Loosed the frost and fanged the famine,
Thorned the bushes, pinched the berries,
Put the bitter in the buckeye,
Rocked the mountains to their summits,
Flung the hills into the valleys,
Sank the lakes and shoaled the rivers,
Poured the fresh sea in the salt sea,
Stamped his foot here in the forest,
Where the water burst from under
Heel that raised him into heaven—
Angry with the world forever
Rose the Sun Man into heaven.
Shaman
(Solemnly.)
I am the Shaman. I know what has gone
before and what will come after. I have passed
down through the gateway of death and talked
with the dead. My eyes have looked upon the
unseen things. My ears have heard the
unspoken words. And now I shall tell you of
the Sun Man in the days to come.
(Shaman stiffens suddenly with hideous
facial distortions, with inturned eye-balls
and loosened jaw. He waves his arms
about, writhes and twists in torment, as
if in epilepsy.)
(The Women break into a wailing, inarticulate
chant, swaying their bodies to the
accent. The men join them somewhat
reluctantly, all save Red Cloud, who
betrays vexation, and War Chief, who
betrays truculence.)
(Shaman, leading the rising frenzy, with
convulsive shiverings and tremblings tears
of his skin garments so that he is quite
naked save for a girdle of eagle-claws
about his thighs. His long black hair
flies about his face. With an abruptness
that is startling, he ceases all movement
and stands erect, rigid. This is greeted
with a low moaning that slowly dies
away.)
CHANT OF PROPHECY
Shaman
The Sun never grows cold.
The Sun Man is like the Sun.
His anger never grows cold.
The Sun Man will return.
The Sun Man will come back from the Sun.
People
The Sun Man will return.
The Sun Man will come back from the Sun.
Shaman
There is a sign.
As the water burst forth when he rose into the sky,
So will the water cease to flow when he returns from the sky.
The Sun Man is mighty.
In his eyes is blue fire.
In his hands he bears the thunder.
The lightnings are in his hair.
People
In his hands he bears the thunder.
The lightnings are in his hair.
Shaman
There is a sign.
The Sun Man is white.
His skin is white like the sun.
His hair is bright like the sunlight.'
His eyes are blue like the sky.
People
There is a sign.
The Sun Man is white.
Shaman
The Sun Man is mighty.
He is the enemy of the Nishinam.
He will destroy the Nishinam.
People
He is the enemy of the Nishinam.
He will destroy the Nishinam.
Shaman
There is a sign.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
People
There is a sign.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
Shaman
In the day the Sun Man comes
The water from the spring will no longer flow.
And in that day he will destroy the Nishinam.
With the thunder will he destroy the Nishinam.
The Nishinam will be like last year's grasses.
The Nishinam will be like the smoke of last year's campfires.
The Nishinam will be less than the dreams that trouble the sleeper.
The Nishinam will be like the days no man remembers.
I am the Shaman.
I have spoken.
(The People set up a sad wailing.)
War Chief
(Striking his chest with his fist.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
(The People cease from their wailing and
look to the War Chief with hopeful
expectancy.)
War Chief
I am the War Chief. In war I command.
Nor the Shaman nor Red Cloud may say me nay
when in war I command. Let the Sun Man
come back. I am not afraid. If the foxes snared
him with ropes, then can I slay him with spear-
thrust and war-club. I am the War Chief. In
war I command.
(The People greet War Chief's pronouncement
with warlike cries of approval.)
Red Cloud
The foxes are cunning. If they snared the Sun Man
With ropes of sinew, then let us be cunning
And snare him with ropes of kindness.
In kindness, O War Chief, is strength, much strength.
Shaman
Red Cloud speaks true. In kindness is strength.
War Chief
I am the War Chief.
Shaman
You cannot slay the Sun Man.
War Chief
I am the War Chief.
Shaman
The Sun Man fights with the thunder in his hand.
War Chief
I am the War Chief.
Red Cloud
(As he speaks the People are visibly wan by
his argument.)
You speak true, O War Chief. In war you
command. You are strong, most strong. You
have slain the Modoc. You have slain the Napa.
You have slain the Clam-Eaters of the big water
till the last one is not. Yet you have not slain
all the foxes. The foxes cannot fight, yet are
they stronger than you because you cannot slay
them. The foxes are foxes, but we are men.
When the Sun Man comes we will not be cunning
like the foxes. We will be kind. Kindness and
love will we give to the Sun Man, so that he will
be our friend. Then will he melt the frost, pull
the teeth of famine, give us back our rivers of
deep water, our lakes of sweet water, take the
bitter from the buckeye, and in all ways make
the world the good world it was before he left us.
People
Hail, Red Cloud, the first man!
Hail, Red Cloud, the Acorn-Planter!
Who showed us the way of our feet in the world!
Who showed us the way of our food in the world!
Who showed us the way of our hearts in the world!
Who gave us the law of family,
The law of tribe,
The law of totem,
And made us strong in the world among men!
(While the People sing the hillside slowly
grows dark.)
ACT I
(Ten thousand years have passed, and it is
the time of the early voyaging from Europe
to the waters of the Pacific, when the
deserted hillside is again revealed as the
moon rises. The stream no longer flows
from the spring. Since the grove is used
only as a camp for the night when the
Nishinam are on their seasonal migration
there are no signs of previous camps.)
(Enter from right, at end of day's march,
women, old men, and Shaman, the
women bending under their burdens of
camp gear and dunnage)
(Enter from left youths carrying fish-spears
and large fish)
(Appear, coming down the hillside, Red
Cloud and the hunters, many carrying
meat.)
(The various repeated characters, despite
differences of skin garmenting and decoration,
resemble their prototypes of the prologue.)
Red Cloud
Good hunting! Good hunting!
Hunters
Good hunting! Good hunting!
Youths
Good fishing! Good fishing!
Women
Good berries! Good acorns!
(The women and youths and hunters, as they
reach the campsite, begin throwing down
their burdens)
Dew-Woman
(Discovering the dry spring.)
The water no longer flows!
Shaman
(Stilling the excitement that is immediate
on the discovery.)
The word of old time that has come down to
us from all the Shamans who have gone before!
The Sun Man has come back from the Sun.
Dew-Woman
(Looking to Red Cloud.)
Let Red Cloud speak. Since the morning of
the world has Red Cloud ever been reborn with
the ancient wisdom to guide us.
War Chief
Save in war. In war I command.
(He picks out hunters by name.)
Deer Foot... Elk Man... Antelope. Run
through the forest, climb the hill-tops, seek down
the valleys, for aught you may find of this Sun Man.
(At a wave of the War Chief's hand the
three hunters depart in different directions.)
Dew-Woman
Let Red Cloud speak his mind.
Red Cloud
(Quietly)
Last night the earth shook and there was a
roaring in the air. Often have I seen, when the
earth shakes and there is a roaring, that springs
in some places dry up, and that in other places
where were no springs, springs burst forth.
Shaman
There is a sign.
The Shamans told it of old.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
People
There is a sign.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
Shaman
The roaring in the air was the thunder of the
Sun Man's return. Now will he destroy the
Nishinam. Such is the word.
War Chief
Hoh! Hoh!
(From right Deer Foot runs in.)
Deer Foot
(Breathless.)
They come! He comes!
War Chief
Who comes?
Deer Foot
The Sun Men. The Sun Man. He is their
chief. He marches before them. And he is
white.
People
There is a sign.
The Sun Man is white.
Red Cloud
Carries he the thunder in his hand?
Deer Foot
(Puzzled)
He looks hungry.
War Chief
Hoh! Hoh! The Sun Man is hungry. It
will be easy to kill a hungry Sun Man.
Red Cloud
It would be easy to be kind to a hungry Sun
Man and give him food. We have much. The
hunting has been good.
War Chief
Better to kill the Sun Man.
(He turns upon People, indicating most
commands in gestures as he prepares the
ambush, making women and boys conceal
all the camp outfit and game, and
disposing the armed hunters among the
ferns and behind trees till all are hidden.)
Elk Man and Antelope
(Running down hillside)
The Sun Man comes.
(War Chief sends them to hiding places)
War Chief
(Preparing himself to hide)
You have not hidden, O Red Cloud.
Red Cloud
(Stepping into shadow of big tree where he
remains inconspicuous though dimly
visible)
I would see this Sun Man and talk with him.
(The sound of singing is heard, and War
Chief conceals himself)
(Sun Man, with handful of followers, singing
to ease the tedium of the march, enter
from right. They are patently survivors
of a wrecked exploring skip, making their
way inland)
Sun Men
We sailed three hundred strong
For the far Barbaree;
Our voyage has been most long
For the far Barbaree;
So—it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
We sailed the oceans wide
For the coast of Barbaree;
And left our ship a sinking
On the coast of Barbaree;
So—it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
Our ship went fast a-lee
On the rocks of Barbaree;
That's why we quit the sea
On the rocks of Barbaree.
So—it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
We quit the bitter seas
On the coast of Barbaree;
To seek the savag-ees
Of the far Barbaree.
So—it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
Our feet are lame and sore
In the far Barbaree;
From treading of the shore
Of the far Barbaree.
So—it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
A weary brood are we
In the far Barbaree;
Sea cunies of the sea
In the far Barbaree.
So—it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
Sun Man
(Who alone carries a musket, and who is
evidently captain of the wrecked company)
No farther can we go this night. Mayhap
to-morrow we may find the savages and food.
(He glances about.)
This far world grows noble trees. We shall sleep
as in a temple.
First Sea Cuny
(Espying Red Cloud, and pointing.)
Look, Captain!
Sun Man
(Making the universal peace-sign, arm
raised and out, palm-outward.)
Who are you? Speak. We come in peace.
We kindness seek.
Red Cloud
(Advancing out of the shadow.)
Whence do you come?
Sun Man
From the great sea.
Red Cloud
I do not understand. No one journeys
on the great sea.
Sun Man
We have journeyed many moons.
Red Cloud
Have you come from the sun?
Sun Man
God wot! We have journeyed across the
sun, high and low in the sky, and over the sun
and under the sun the round world 'round.
Red Cloud
(With conviction.)
You come from the Sun. Your hair is like
the summer sunburnt grasses. Your eyes are
blue. Your skin is white.
(With absolute conviction.)
You are the Sun Man.
Sun Man
(With a shrug of shoulders.)
Have it so. I come from the Sun. I am the
Sun Man.
Red Cloud
Do you carry the thunder in your hand?
Sun Man
(Nonplussed for the moment, glances at
his musket, then smiles.)
Yes, I carry the thunder in my hand.
(War Chief and the Hunters leap
suddenly from ambush. Sun Man
warns Sea Cunies not to resist. War
Chief captures and holds Sun Man,
and Sea Cunies are similarly captured
and held. Women and boys appear, and
examine prisoners curiously.)
War Chief
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh! I have captured the
Sun Man! Like the foxes, I have captured
the Sun Man!—Deer Foot! Elk Man! The
foxes held the Sun Man. I now hold the Sun
Man. Then can you hold the Sun Man.
(Deer Foot and Elk Man seize the Sun
Man.)
Red Cloud
(To Shaman.)
He said he came in kindness.
War Chief
(Sneering.)
In kindness, with the thunder in his hand.
Shaman
(Deflected to partisanship of War Chief
by War Chief's success.)
By his own lips has he said it, with the thunder
in his hand.
War Chief
You are the Sun Man.
Sun Man
(Shrugging shoulders.)
My names are many as the stars. Call me
White Man.
Red Cloud
I am Red Cloud, the first man.
Sun Man
Then am I Adam, the first man and your
brother.
(Glancing about.)
And this is Eden, to look upon it.
Red Cloud
My father was the Coyote.
Sun Man
My father was Jehovah.
Red Cloud
I am the Fire-Bringer. I stole the fire from
the ground squirrel and hid it in the heart of
the wood.
Sun Man
Then am I Prometheus, your brother. I
stole the fire from heaven and hid it in the heart
of the wood.
Red Cloud
I am the Acorn-Planter. I am the Food-
Bringer, the Life-Maker. I make food for
more life, ever more life.
Sun Man
Then am I truly your brother. Life-Maker
am I, tilling the soil in the sweat of my brow
from the beginning of time, planting all manner
of good seeds for the harvest.
(Looking sharply at Red Cloud's skin
garments.)
Also am I the Weaver and Cloth-Maker.
(Holding out arm so that Red Cloud may
examine the cloth of the coat)
From the hair of the goat and the wool of
the sheep, and from beaten and spun grasses,
do I make the cloth to keep man warm.
Shaman
(Breaking in boastfully.)
I am the Shaman. I know all secret things.
Sun Man
I know my pathway under the sun over all
the seas, and I know the secrets of the stars
that show me my path where no path is. I
know when the Wolf of Darkness shall eat the
moon.
(Pointing toward moon.)
On this night shall the Wolf of Darkness eat
the moon.
(He turns suddenly to Red Cloud,
drawing sheath-knife and passing it
to him.)
More, O First Man and Acorn-Planter. I am
the Iron-Maker. Behold!
(Red Cloud examines knife, understands
immediately its virtue, cuts easily a strip
of skin from his skin garment, and is
overcome with the wonder of the knife.)
War Chief
(Exhibiting a long bow.)
I am the War Chief. No man, save me, has
strength to bend this bow. I can slay farther
than any man.
(A huge bear has come out among the
bushes far up the hillside)
Sun Man
I, too, am War Chief over men, and I can
slay farther than you.
War Chief
Hoh! Hoh!
Sun Man
(Pointing to bear)
Can you slay that with your strong bow?
War Chief
(Dubiously)
It is a far shot. Too far. No man can slay
a great bear so far.
(Sun Man, shaking off from his arms the
hands of Deer Foot and Elk Man,
aims musket and fires. The bear falls,
and the Nishinam betray astonishment
and awe)
(At a quick signal from War Chief,
Sun Man is again seized. War Chief
takes away musket and examines it.)
Shaman
There is a sign.
People
There is a sign.
He carries the thunder in his hand.
He slays with the thunder in his hand.
He is the enemy of the Nishinam.
He will destroy the Nishinam.
Shaman
There is a sign.
People
There is a sign.
In the day the Sun Man comes,
The waters from the spring will no longer flow,
And in that day will he destroy the Nishinam.
War Chief
(Exhibiting musket.)
Hoh! Hoh! I have taken the Sun Man's
thunder.
Shaman
Now shall the Sun Man die that the Nishinam
may live.
Red Cloud
He is our brother. He, too, is an acorn-
planter. He has spoken.
Shaman
He is the Sun Man, and he is our eternal
enemy. He shall die.
War Chief
In war I command.
(To Hunters.)
Tie their feet with stout thongs that they
may not run. And then make ready with bow
and arrow to do the deed.
(Hunters obey, urging and thrusting the
Sea Cunies into a compact group behind
the Sun Man.)
Red Cloud
Shaman I am not.
I know not the secret things.
I say the things I know.
When you plant kindness you harvest kindness.
When you plant blood you harvest blood.
He who plants one acorn makes way for life.
He who slays one man slays the planter of a
thousand acorns.
Shaman
Shaman I am.
I see the dark future.
I see the Sun Man's death,
The journey he must take
Through thick and endless forest
Where lost souls wander howling
A thousand moons of moons.
People
Through thick and endless forest
Where lost souls wander howling
A thousand moons of moons.
(War Chief arranges Hunters with their
bows and arrows for the killing.)
Sun Man
(To Red Cloud.)
You will slay us?
Red Cloud
(Indicating War Chief.)
In war he commands.
Sun Man
(Addressing the Nishinam)
Nor am I a Shaman. But I will tell you true
things to be. Our brothers are acorn-planters,
cloth-weavers, iron-workers. Our brothers are
life-makers and masters of life. Many are our
brothers and strong. They will come after us.
Your First Man has spoken true words. When
you plant blood you harvest blood. Our brothers
will come to the harvest with the thunder
in their hands. There is a sign. This night,
and soon, will the Wolf of Darkness eat the
moon. And by that sign will our brothers come
on the trail we have broken.
(As final preparation for the killing is
completed, and as Hunters are arranged
with their bows and arrows,
Sun Man sings.)
Sun Man
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Sun Men
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
Sun Man
Givers of law, our brothers,
This is the law they say:
Who takes the life of a brother
Ten of the slayers shall pay.
Sun Men
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
Sun Man
Our brothers will come after
By the courses that we lay;
Many and strong our brothers,
Masters of life are they.
Sun Men
Our brothers will come after
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
Sun Man
Plowers of land, our brothers,
Of the hills and pleasant leas;
Under the sun our brothers
With their keels will plow the seas.
Sun Men
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
Sun Man
Mighty men are our brothers,
Quick to forgive and to wrath,
Sailing the seas, our brothers
Will follow us on our path.
Sun Men
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
(At signal from War Chief the arrows
are discharged, and repeatedly
discharged. The Sun Men fall. The War
Chief himself kills the Sun Man.)
(In what follows, Red Cloud and Dew-
Woman stand aside, taking no part.
Red Cloud is depressed, and at the
same time is overcome with the wonder
of the knife which he still holds.)
War Chief
(Brandishing musket and drifting stiff-
legged, as he sings, into the beginning
of a war dance of victory.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I have slain the Sun Man!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I hold his thunder in my hand!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Greatest of War Chiefs am I!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I have slain the Sun Man!
(The dance grows wilder.)
(After a time the hillside begins to darken)
Dew-Woman
(Pointing to the moon entering eclipse)
Lo! The Wolf of Darkness eats the Moon!
(In consternation the dance is broken off
for the moment)
Shaman
(Reassuringly)
It is a sign.
The Sun Man is dead.
War Chief
(Recovering courage and resuming dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead!
People
(Resuming dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead!
(As darkness increases the dance grows
into a saturnalia, until complete darkness
settles down and hides the hillside.)
