The Acorn-Planter | Page 4

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 spearthrust?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