ACT II

(A hundred years have passed, when the

hillside and the Nishinam in their

temporary camp are revealed. The spring

is flowing, and Women are filling gourds

with water. Red Cloud and Dew-

Woman stand apart from their people.)

Shaman

(Pointing.)

There is a sign.

The spring lives.

The water flows from the spring

And all is well with the Nishinam.

People

There is a sign.

The spring lives.

The water flows from the spring.

War Chief

(Boastingly.)

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

All is well with the Nishinam.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

It is I who have made all well with the Nishinam.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

I led our young men against the Napa.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

We left no man living of the camp.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

Shaman

Great is our War Chief!

Good is war!

No more will the Napa hunt our meat.

No more will the Napa pick our berries.

No more will the Napa catch our fish.

People

No more will the Napa hunt our meat.

No more will the Napa pick our berries.

No more will the Napa catch our fish.

War Chief

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The War Chiefs before me made all well with

the Nishinam.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The War Chief of long ago slew the Sun Man.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man said his brothers would come after.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man lied.

People

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man lied.

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man lied.

Shaman

(Derisively.)

Red Cloud is sick. He lives in dreams. Ever

he dreams of the wonders of the Sun Man.

Red Cloud

The Sun Man was strong. The Sun Man was

a life-maker. The Sun Man planted acorns,

and cut quickly with a knife not of bone nor

stone, and of grasses and hides made cunning

cloth that is better than all grasses and hides.

—Old Man, where is the cunning cloth that is

better than all grasses and hides?

Old Man

(Fumbling in his skin pouch for the doth.)

In the many moons aforetime,

Hundred moons and many hundred,

When the old man was the young man,

When the young man was the youngling,

Dragging branches for the campfire,

Stealing suet from the bear-meat,

Cause of trouble to his mother,

Came the Sun Man in the night-time.

I alone of all the Nishinam

Live to-day to tell the story;

I alone of all the Nishinam

Saw the Sun Man come among us,

Heard the Sun Man and his Sun Men

Sing their death-song here among us

Ere they died beneath our arrows,

War Chief's arrows sharp and feathered—

War Chief

(Interrupting braggartly.)

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

Old Man

(Producing cloth.)

And the Sun Man and his Sun Men

Wore nor hair nor hide nor birdskin.

Cloth they wore from beaten grasses

Woven like our willow baskets,

Willow-woven acorn baskets

Women make in acorn season.

(Old Man hands piece of cloth to Red

Cloud.)

Red Cloud

(Admiring cloth.)

The Sun Man was an acorn-planter, and we

killed the Sun Man. We were not kind. We

made a blood-debt. Blood-debts are not good.

Shaman

The Sun Man lied. His brothers did not come

after. There is no blood-debt when there is no

one to make us pay.

Red Cloud

He who plants acorns reaps food, and food is

life. He who sows war reaps war, and war is death.

People

(Encouraged by Shaman and War Chief

to drown out Red Cloud's voice.)

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man is dead!

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

The Sun Man and his Sun Men are dead!

Red Cloud

(Shaking his head.)

His brothers of the Sun are coming after.

I have reports.

(Red Cloud beckons one after another of

the young hunters to speak)

First Hunter

To the south, not far, I wandered and lived

with the Petaluma. With my eyes I did not

see, but it was told me by those whose eyes had

seen, that still to the south, not far, were many

Sun Men—war chiefs who carry the thunder in

their hands; cloth-makers and weavers of cloth

like to that in Red Cloud's hand; acorn-planters

who plant all manner of strange seeds that ripen

to rich harvests of food that is good. And there

had been trouble. The Petaluma had killed

Sun Men, and many Petaluma had the Sun Men

killed.

Second Hunter

To the east, not far, I wandered and lived with

the Solano. With my own eyes I did not see,

but it was told me by those whose eyes had seen,

that still to the east, not far, and just beyond the

lands of the Tule tribes, were many Sun Men—

war chiefs and cloth-makers and acorn-planters.

And there had been trouble. The Solano had

killed Sun Men, and many Solano had the Sun Men killed.

Third Hunter

To the north, and far, I wandered and lived

with the Klamath. With my own eyes I did

not see, but it was told me by those whose eyes

had seen, that still to the north, and far, were

many Sun Men—war chiefs and cloth-makers

and acorn-planters. And there had been trouble.

The Klamath had killed Sun Men, and many

Klamath had the Sun Men killed.

Fourth Hunter

To the west, not far, three days gone I

wandered, where, from the mountain, I looked

down upon the great sea. With my own eyes

I saw. It was like a great bird that swam upon

the water. It had great wings like to our great

trees here. And on its back I saw men, many

men, and they were Sun Men. With my own

eyes I saw.

Red Cloud

We shall be kind to the Sun Men when they

come among us.

War Chief

(Dancing stiff-legged.)

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

Let the Sun Men come!

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

We will kill the Sun Men when they come!

People

(As they join in the war dance.)

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

Let the Sun Men come!

Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

We will kill the Sun Men when they come.

(The dance grows wilder, the Shaman and

War Chief encouraging it, while Red

Cloud and Dew-Woman stand sadly at

a distance.)

(Rifle shots ring out from every side. Up

the hillside appear Sun Men firing rifles.

The Nishinam reel to death from their

dancing.)

(Red Cloud shields Dew-Woman with

one arm about her, and with the other arm

makes the peace-sign)

(The massacre is complete, Dew-Woman

and Red Cloud being the last to fall.

Red Cloud, wounded, the sole survivor,

rests on his elbow and watches the Sun

Men assemble about their leader)

(The Sun Men are the type of pioneer

Americans who, even before the discovery

of gold, were already drifting across the

Sierras and down into Oregon and

California with their oxen and great wagons.

With here and there a Rocky Mountain

trapper or a buckskin-clad scout of the

Kit Carson type, in the main they are

backwoods farmers. All carry the long

rifle of the period.)

(The Sun Man is buckskin-clad, with long

blond hair sweeping his shoulders.)

Sun Men

(Led by Sun Man.)

We crossed the Western Ocean

Three hundred years ago,

We cleared New England's forests

Three hundred years ago.

Blow high, blow low,

Heigh hi, heigh ho,

We cleared New England's forests

Three hundred years ago.

We climbed the Alleghanies

Two hundred years ago,

We reached the Susquehanna

Two hundred years ago.

Blow high, blow low,

Heigh hi, heigh ho,

We reached the Susquehanna

Two hundred years ago.

We crossed the Mississippi

One hundred years ago,

And glimpsed the Rocky Mountains

One hundred years ago.

Blow high, blow low,

Heigh hi, heigh ho,

And glimpsed the Rocky Mountains

One hundred years ago.

We passed the Rocky Mountains

A year or so ago,

And crossed the salty deserts

A year or so ago.

Blow high, blow low,

Heigh hi, heigh ho,

And crossed the salty deserts

A year or so ago.

We topped the high Sierras

But a few days ago,

And saw great California

But a few days ago.

Blow high, blow low,

Heigh hi, heigh ho,

And saw great California

But a few days ago.

We crossed Sonoma's mountains

An hour or so ago,

And found this mighty forest

An hour or so ago.

Blow high, blow low,

Heigh hi, heigh ho,

And found this mighty forest

An hour or so ago.

Sun Man

(Glancing about at the slain and at the giant

forest.)

Good the day, good the deed, and good this

California land.

Red Cloud

Not with these eyes, but with other eyes in my

lives before, have I beheld you. You are the

Sun Man.

(The attention of all is drawn to Red

Cloud, and they group about him and the

Sun Man.)

Sun Man

Call me White Man. Though in truth we

follow the sun. All our lives have we followed

the sunset sun, as our fathers followed it before

us.

Red Cloud

And you slay us with the thunder in your hand.

You slay us because we slew your brothers.

Sun Man

(Nodding to Red Cloud and addressing

his own followers)

You see, it was no mistake. He confesses it.

Other white men have they slain.

Red Cloud

There will come a day when men will not slay

men and when all men will be brothers. And in

that day all men will plant acorns.

Sun Man

You speak well, brother.

Red Cloud

Ever was I for peace, but in war I did not command.

Ever I sought the secrets of the growing

things, the times and seasons for planting. Ever

I planted acorns, making two black oak trees

grow where one grew before. And now all is

ended. Oh my black oak acorns! My black

oak acorns! Who will plant them now?

Sun Man

Be of good cheer. We, too, are planters.

Rich is your land here. Not from poor soil can

such trees sprout heavenward. We will plant

many seeds and grow mighty harvests.

Red Cloud

I planted the short acorns in the valley. I

planted the long acorns in the valley. I made

food for life.

Sun Man

You planted well, brother, but not well enough.

It is for that reason that you pass. Your fat

valley grows food but for a handful of men. We

shall plant your fat valley and grow food for ten

thousand men.

Red Cloud

Ever I counseled peace and planting.

Sun Man

Some day all men will counsel peace. No

man will slay his fellow. All men will plant.

Red Cloud

But before that day you will slay, as you have

this day slain us?

Sun Man

You killed our brothers first. Blood-debts must

be paid. It is man's way upon the earth. But

more, O brother! We follow the sunset sun, and

the way before us is red with war. The way

behind us is white with peace. Ever, before

us, we make room for life. Ever we slay the

squalling crawling things of the wild. Ever we

clear the land and destroy the weeds that block

the way of life for the seeds we plant. We are

many, and many are our brothers that come after

along the way of peace we blaze. Where you

make two black oaks grow in the place of one,

we make an hundred. And where we make one

grow, our brothers who come after make an

hundred hundred.

Red Cloud

Truly are you the Sun Man. We knew about

you of old time. Our old men knew and sang of

you:

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,

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.

SONG OF THE PIONEERS

Sun Men

Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze.

Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain

Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands;

In place of war's alarums, peaceful days;

Above the warrior's grave the golden grain

Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

Sun Man

We cleared New England's flinty slopes and plowed

Her rocky fields to fairness in the sun,

But fared we westward always for we sought

A land of golden richness and we knew

The land was waiting on the sunset trail.

Where we found forest we left fertile fields,

We bridled rivers wild to grind our corn,

The deer-paths turned to roadways at our heels,

Our axes felled the trees that bridged the streams,

And fenced the meadow pastures for our kine.

Sun Men

Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze;

Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain

Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands;

In place of war's alarums, peaceful days;

Above the warrior's grave the golden grain

Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

Sun Man

Beyond the Mississippi still we fared,

And rested weary by the River Platte

Until the young grass velveted the Plains,

Then yoked again our oxen to the trail

That ever led us west to farthest west.

Our women toiled beside us, and our young,

And helped to break the soil and plant the corn,

And fought beside us in the battle front

To fight of arrow, whine of bullet, when

We chained our circled wagons wheel to wheel.

Sun Men

Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze;

Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain

Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers hands;

In place of war's alarums, peaceful days;

Above the warrior's grave the golden grain

Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

Sun Man

The rivers sank beneath the desert sand,

The tall pines dwarfed to sage-brush, and the grass

Grew sparse and bitter in the alkali,

But fared we always toward the setting sun.

Our oxen famished till the last one died

And our great wagons rested in the snow.

We climbed the high Sierras and looked down

From winter bleak upon the land we sought,

A sunny land, a rich and fruitful land,

The warm and golden California land.

Sun Men

Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze;

Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain

Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands;

In place of war's alarums, peaceful days;

Above the warrior's grave the golden grain

Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

(The hillside begins to darken.)

Red Cloud

(Faintly.)

The darkness is upon me. You are acorn-

planters. You are my brothers. The darkness

is upon me and I pass.

Sun Men

(As total darkness descends.)

Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze;

Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain

Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands;

In place of war's alarums, peaceful days;

Above the warrior's grave the golden grain

Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.