Prologue - Page 2

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