The Acorn-Planter | Page 8

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 DewWoman
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 stifflegged,
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.)_
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 DewWoman

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