diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:36:15 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:36:15 -0700 |
| commit | 116771ba6122fd6267b2cd0a096ed5551f487abb (patch) | |
| tree | bcebbf286dd9562cc7d0462288f21d36b4b8de41 /27792-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '27792-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 27792-h/27792-h.htm | 8373 |
1 files changed, 8373 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/27792-h/27792-h.htm b/27792-h/27792-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27c2a84 --- /dev/null +++ b/27792-h/27792-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8373 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Arrow-Maker by Mary Austin</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /><style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + + body { + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + } + + .h1a {text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + font-size: large; + margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + + h1 {margin-top: 5em;} + + h2 {margin-top: 2em;} + + .h2a { + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + margin-bottom: 1.5em; + } + + .rmn { left: 92%; position: absolute; text-align: right;} + + .pagenum { left: 92%; position: absolute; text-align: right; font-weight: normal; font-size: small; color: #808080;} + + .fnref {vertical-align: 0.25em; font-size: 0.8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: small;} + + .sidenote {float: right; border: solid 1px; padding-right: 0.5em; padding-left: 0.5em; margin-left: 0.5em; width: 25%} + + .nowrap {text-align: center; margin-top: 2em;} + + .poem {} + + .authorright {text-align: right;} + + .curtain {text-align: center; font-size: large; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 3em;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .centered {text-align: center;} + + .dirright {} + + .trnote {margin: 3em auto 3em auto; border: 1px solid; padding: 1em 2em 1em 2em; background-color: #ccffff; width: 30em;} + +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Arrow-Maker, by Mary Austin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Arrow-Maker + A Drama in Three Acts + +Author: Mary Austin + +Release Date: January 13, 2009 [EBook #27792] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARROW-MAKER *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Roe and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<!-- Page 1 --> +<h1> +<a name="chapter1" /> +THE ARROW-MAKER +</h1> +<p class="h1a"> +A Drama in Three Acts<br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +BY<br /> +MARY AUSTIN<br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<i>Revised Edition</i><br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +AMS PRESS<br /> +NEW YORK<br /> +<!-- Page 2 --> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +Reprinted from the edition of 1915, Boston<br /> +First AMS EDITION published 1969<br /> +Manufactured in the United States of America<br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 70-90082<br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +AMS PRESS, INC.<br /> +New York, N. Y. 10003<br /> +<!-- Page 3 --> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +DEDICATED<br /> +IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO<br /> +H. C. H.<br /> +AS ONE WHO AMONG MANY PROTESTANTS<br /> +“MADE GOOD”<br /> +</p> +<div class="trnote"> +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> +<p class="centered"> +(Added by transcriber) +</p> +<p> +<a href="#chapter2">Preface to the First Edition</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter3">Note to the Second Edition</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter4">Persons of the Drama</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter7">Act First</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter9">Act Second</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter11">Act Third</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter12">Glossary of Indian Words and Phrases</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter13">The Dances</a><br /> +<a href="#chapter14">Costumes</a><br /> +<a name="preface7" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg vii]</span> +</p> +</div> +<h2> +<a name="chapter2" /> +PREFACE +TO THE FIRST EDITION +</h2> +<p> +The greatest difficulty to be met in the +writing of an Indian play is the extensive +misinformation about Indians. Any real +aboriginal of my acquaintance resembles his +prototype in the public mind about as much +as he does the high-nosed, wooden sign of a +tobacco store, the fact being that, among +the fifty-eight linguistic groups of American +aboriginals, customs, traits, and beliefs differ +as greatly as among Slavs and Sicilians. +Their very speech appears not to be derived +from any common stock. All that they really +have of likeness is an average condition of +primitiveness: they have traveled just so far +toward an understanding of the world they +live in, and no farther. It is this general limitation +of knowledge which makes, in spite +of the multiplication of tribal customs, a +common attitude of mind which alone affords +a basis of interpretation. +</p> +<p> +But before attempting to realize the working +of Indian psychology, you must first rid +<a name="preface8" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg viii]</span> +yourself of the notion that there is any real +difference between the tribes of men except +the explanations. What determines man's +behavior in the presence of fever, thunder, +and the separations of death, is the nature of +his guess at the causes of these things. The +issues of life do not vary so much with the +conditions of civilization as is popularly +supposed. +</p> +<p> +Chiefest among the misconceptions of +primitive life, which make difficult any dramatic +presentation of it, is the notion that +all human contacts are accompanied by the +degree of emotional stress that obtains only +in the most complex social organizations. +We are always hearing, from the people +farthest removed from them, of “great primitive +passions,” when in fact what distinguishes +the passions of the tribesmen from +our own is their greater liability to the pacific +influences of nature, and their greater freedom +from the stimulus of imagination. What +among us makes for the immensity of emotion, +is the great weight of accumulated emotional +tradition stored up in literature and +art, almost entirely wanting in the camps of +the aboriginals. There the two greatest +themes of modern drama, love and ambition, +<a name="preface9" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg ix]</span> +are modified, the one by the more or less +communal nature of tribal labor, the other +by the plain fact that in the simple, open-air +life of the Indian the physical stress of sex is +actually much less than in conditions called +civilized. +</p> +<p> +When the critics are heard talking of “drama +of great primitive passions,” what they +mean is great barbaric passions, passions far +enough along in the process of socialization +to be subject to the interactions of wealth, +caste, and established religion, and still +free from the obligation of politeness. But +the life of the American Indian provides no +such conditions, and, moreover, in the factor +which makes conspicuously for the degree of +complication called Plot, is notably wanting,—I +mean in the factor of Privacy. Where all +the functions of living are carried on in the +presence of the community, or at the best +behind the thin-walled, leafy huts, human +relations become simplified to a degree difficult +for our complexer habit to comprehend. +The only really great passions—great, I +mean, in the sense of being dramatically +possible—are communal, and find their expression +in the dance which is the normal +vehicle of emotional stress. +<a name="preface10" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg x]</span> +</p> +<p> +In <i>The Arrow-Maker</i> the author, without +dwelling too much on tribal peculiarities, +has attempted the explication of this primitive +attitude toward a human type common +to all conditions of society. The particular +mould in which the story is cast takes shape +from the manner of aboriginal life in the +Southwest, anywhere between the Klamath +River and the Painted Desert; but it has +been written in vain if the situation has not +also worked itself out in terms of your own +environment. +</p> +<p> +The Chisera is simply the Genius, one of +those singular and powerful characters whom +we are still, with all our learning, unable to +account for without falling back on the primitive +conception of gift as arising from direct +communication with the gods. That she +becomes a Medicine Woman is due to the +circumstance of being born into a time +which fails to discriminate very clearly as to +just which of the inexplicable things lie +within the control of her particular gift. +That she accepts the interpretation of her +preëminence which common opinion provides +for her, does not alter the fact that she +is no more or less than just the gifted woman, +too much occupied with the use of her gift +<a name="preface11" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg xi]</span> +to look well after herself, and more or less at +the mercy of the tribe. What chiefly influences +their attitude toward her is worthy of +note, being no less than the universal, unreasoned +conviction that great gift belongs, +not to the possessor of it, but to society at +large. The whole question then becomes one +of how the tribe shall work the Chisera to +their best advantage. +</p> +<p> +How they did this, with what damage +and success is to be read, but if to be read +profitably, with its application in mind to +the present social awakening to the waste, +the enormous and stupid waste, of the gifts +of women. To one fresh from the consideration +of the roots of life as they lie close to the +surface of primitive society, this obsession +of the recent centuries, that the community +can only be served by a gift for architecture, +for administration, for healing, when it occurs +in the person of a male, is only a trifle +less ridiculous than that other social stupidity, +namely, that a gift of mothering must +not be exercised except in the event of a particular +man being able, under certain restrictions, +to afford the opportunity. There is +perhaps no social movement going on at +present so deep-rooted and dramatic as this +<a name="preface12" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg xii]</span> +struggle of Femininity to recapture its right +to serve, and still to serve with whatever +powers and possessions it finds itself endowed. +But a dramatic presentation of it is +hardly possible outside of primitive conditions +where no tradition intervenes to prevent +society from accepting the logic of +events. +</p> +<p> +Whatever more there may be in <i>The +Arrow-Maker</i>, besides its Indian color, should +lie in the discovery by the Chisera, to which +the author subscribes, that it is also in conjunction +with her normal relation for loving +and bearing that the possessor of gifts finds +the greatest increment of power. To such of +these as have not discovered it for themselves, +<i>The Arrow-Maker</i> is hopefully recommended. +<a name="preface13" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg xiii]</span> +</p> +<h2> +<a name="chapter3" /> +NOTE +TO THE SECOND EDITION +</h2> +<p> +<i>The Arrow-Maker</i> was first published as +produced at The New Theatre, New York, +in the spring of 1911. In that edition certain +concessions were made to what was +thought to be the demand for a drama of +Indian life which should present the Indian +more nearly as he is popularly conceived. +</p> +<p> +After four years the success of the published +play as an authentic note on aboriginal +life as well as a drama suitable for +production in schools and colleges, seems to +warrant its publication in the original form. +As it now stands, the book not only conforms +to the author's original conception of the +drama, but to the conditions of the life it +presents. +</p> +<p> +With the addition of notes and glossary +it is hoped the present edition will meet +every demand that can be made on an honest +attempt to render in dramatic form a +neglected phase of American life. +</p> +<p class="authorright"> +M. A. +<a name="preface14" /><span class="pagenum">[Pg xiv]</span> +</p> +<h2> +<a name="chapter4" /> +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA +</h2> +<p> +In the order of their appearance +</p> +<table summary="persons of the drama"> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Choco</span></td><td>}</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span></td><td>}</td><td><i>Fighting men</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Tavwots</span></td><td>}</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Yavi</span></td><td></td><td><i>A youth</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Seegooche</span></td><td></td><td><i>The Chief's wife</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Tiawa</span></td><td></td><td><i>A very old woman</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Wacoba</span></td><td></td><td><i>Wife to Pamaquash</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Chisera</span></td><td></td><td><i>Medicine Woman of the Paiutes</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Bright Water</span></td><td></td><td><i>The Chief's daughter</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">White Flower</span></td><td>}</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span></td><td>}</td><td><i>Friends of Bright Water</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Pioke</span></td><td>}</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Simwa</span></td><td></td><td><i>The Arrow-Maker</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Padahoon</span></td><td></td><td><i>Rival to Simwa for leadership</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Rain Wind</span></td><td></td><td><i>Chief of the Paiutes</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Haiwai</span></td><td></td><td><i>A young matron</i></td></tr> +</table> +<!-- Page 1 --> +<h1> +<a name="chapter6" /> +THE ARROW-MAKER +</h1> +<h2> +<a name="chapter7" /> +ACT FIRST +</h2> +<p> +<span class="smcap">Scene.</span>—<i>The hut of the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>in the foot-hills +of the Sierras. It stands at the mouth +of a steep, dark caņon, opening toward the +valley of Sagharawite. At the back rise +high and barren cliffs where eagles nest; +at the foot of the cliffs runs a stream, hidden +by willow and buckthorn and toyon. +The wickiup is built in the usual Paiute +fashion, of long willows set about a circular +pit, bent over to form a dome, thatched +with reeds and grass. About the hut lie +baskets and blankets, a stone metate, other +household articles, all of the best quality; +in front is a clear space overflowing with +knee-deep many-colored bloom of the California +spring. A little bank that runs from +the wickiup to the toyon bushes is covered +with white forget-me-nots. The hearth-fire +between two stones is quite out, but the +deerskin that screens the opening of the hut +is caught up at one side, a sign that the</i> +<a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span> +<i>owner is not far from home, or expects to +return soon.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>At first glance the scene appears devoid of life, +but suddenly the call of a jay bird is heard +faintly and far up the trail that leads to +the right among the rocks. It is repeated +nearer at hand, perfectly imitated but with +a nuance that advises of human origin, +and two or three half-naked Indians are +seen to be making their way toward the +bottom of the caņon, their movements so +cunningly harmonized with the lines of the +landscape as to render them nearly invisible.</i> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span> <i>with two +others come together at the end of the bank +farthest from the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>hut.</i> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Who called? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It came from farther up. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Yavi, I think. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He must have seen something. +<a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +By the Bear, if the Castacs have crossed +our boundaries, there are some of them shall +not recross it! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hush—the Chisera—she will hear you! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She is not in the hut. She went out toward +the hills early this morning, and has not yet +returned. Besides, if the Castacs have +crossed, we cannot keep it from the women +much longer. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Who has moved up to a better post of observation.</i>) +There is some one on the trail. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The jay's call is heard and answered +softly by</i> <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Yavi. But Tavwots is not with him. +(<span class="smcap">Yavi</span> <i>comes dropping from the cliffs.</i>) What +have you seen? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Smoke rising—by Deer Leap. Two long +puffs and a short one. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The news is received with sharp, excited +murmurs.</i>) +<a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +More than a score—and with all our +youths we cannot count so many. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And this business of war leader still unsettled—The +Council must sit at once. Go, +one of you, and tell Chief Rain Wind that +Tavwots has signaled from Deer Leap that +more than a score of Castacs are out against +us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And tell the women to prepare a gift hastily +for the Chisera. Who knows how soon +we shall have need of her medicine. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>One of the Indians departs on this +errand.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Never so much need of it as when we have +neglected our own part of the affair! Even +before the Castacs began to fill up our springs +and drive our deer, we knew that the Chief +is too old for war; and now that the enemy +has crossed our borders we are still leaderless. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So we should not be if we had followed the +<a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span> +tribal use and given the leadership to years +and experience. It is you young men who +have unsettled judgment, with the to-do you +have made about the Arrow-Maker. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I have nothing against years and experience, +but when one has the gods as plainly +on his side as Simwa— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Never have I seen a man so increase in +power and fortune— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Huh—huh! I too have watched the +growth of this Simwa. Also I have seen a +gourd swelling with the rains, and I have not +laid it to the gods in either case. But the +Council must sit upon it. We must bring it +to the Council. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Hotly.</i>) Why should you credit the gods +with Simwa's good fortune since he himself +does not so claim it? For my part, I think +with the Arrow-Maker, that it is better for a +man to thrive by his own wits, rather than +<a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> +by the making of medicine or the wisdom of +the elders. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>From above.</i>) Tst—st, Tavwots! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span> <i>comes down the caņon panting +with speed. He drops exhausted on the +bank, and</i> <span class="smcap">Yavi</span> <i>gives him water between +his palms from the creek.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Have they crossed? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Between Deer Leap and Standing Rock—more +than a score, though I think some of +them were boys—but they had no women. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +They mean fighting, then! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Well, they can have it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But they should not be let fatten on our +deer before they come to it. Winnemucca, +whom I left at Deer Leap, will bring us word +<a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> +where they camp to-night. In the mean time +there is much to do. <span class="dirright">(<i>Rising.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Much. No doubt Simwa will have something +to suggest. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Arrow-Maker is not yet war leader, +my friend. I go to the Chief and the Council. + <span class="dirright">(<i>He goes.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And yet, I think the Chief favors Simwa, +else why should he prefer to put the election +to lot rather than keep to the custom of the +fathers? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Going.</i>) There might be reasons to that, +not touching the merits of the Arrow-Maker. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Tavwots has met the women! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Sounds of the grief of the women in the +direction of the camp.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +They are coming to the Chisera. We +<a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span> +should not have let them find us here; they +will neglect their business with her to beset +us with questions. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>To them enter three women of the campody +of Sagharawite, carrying perfect-patterned, +bowl-shaped baskets, with +gifts of food for the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera. Seegooche</span>, +<i>the Chiefs wife, is old and +full of dignity.</i> <span class="smcap">Tiawa</span> <i>is old and sharp, +but</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba</span> <i>is a comfortable, comely +matron, who wears a blanket modestly +yet to conceal charms not past their +prime.</i> <span class="smcap">Seegooche</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Tiawa</span> <i>wear +basket caps, but</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba</span> <i>has a bandeau +of bright beads about her hair. They +show signs of agitation, instantly subdued +at sight of the men</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is this true what Tavwots has told us, that +the Castacs are upon us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No nearer than Pahrump. Not so near by +the time we have done with them. What +gifts have you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The best the camp affords. Think you we +<a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> +would stint when the smoke of the Castacs +goes up within our borders? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Where is she? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Abroad in the hills gathering roots and +herbs for to-night's medicine. Wait for her.—We +must go look to our fighting gear. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He goes out in the direction of the campody.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba</span>.) My bow case, is it finished? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And the bow inside it. See that you come +not back to me nor to your young son until +the bowstring is frayed asunder. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If you do your work with the Chisera as +well as we with Castac, you shall not need to +question our bowstrings. <span class="dirright">(<i>Going.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Leave us to deal—though if she cannot +<a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> +help us in this matter, I do not know where +we shall turn. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Never have I asked help of her, and been +disappointed. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Gathering flowers.</i>) Aye, but that was +mere women's matters, weevil in the pine +nuts, a love-charm or a colicky child. <i>This is +war!</i> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Still peering about.</i>) As if that were not a +woman's affair also! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You may well say that! It was in our last +quarrel with Castac I lost the only man-child +I ever had, dead before he was born. When +the women showed me his face, it was all +puckered with the bitterness of that defeat. +You may well say a woman's matter! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That was the year my husband was first +made Chief, and we covered defeat with victory, +as we shall again. It was Tinnemaha, +<a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span> +the father of the Chisera, went before the +gods for us, I remember. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Well for us that he taught her his strong +medicine. Not a fighting man from Tecuya +to Tehachappi but trusts in her. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Goes to the creek and dips up water to +drink in her basket cap.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Tentatively.</i>) It is believed by some that +she makes medicine for Simwa, the Arrow-Maker, +and that is why his arrows are so +well feathered and fly so swiftly to the mark. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa! Why, he scoffs at charms and +speaks lightly even of the gods. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Giving the others to drink from her cap.</i>) +Aye; Simwa puts not faith in anybody but +Simwa. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And with good reason, for he is the most +skillful of the tribesmen. He has made all +<a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span> +the arrows for the fighting men. Do you +think they will make him war leader? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Ornamenting the basket she has brought +with a wreath of flowers, which she plucks.</i>) +Padahoon will never agree to it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But if Simwa is the better man? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Sparrow Hawk is older, and has the +greater experience. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Prutt! If age and experience were all, my +husband would not ask that a new leader be +chosen. Young men are keenest-eyed and +quickest afoot. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She moves up the trail looking for signs +of the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Going over to</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba</span>, <i>aside from</i> <span class="smcap">Seegooche</span>.) +So the Chief favors Simwa? I +would not have thought it. +<a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Significantly.</i>) Seegooche's daughter is +not married, and the Arrow-Maker has many +blankets. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ugh, huh! So the scent lies up that trail? +Well, why not? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Why not? The Chief's daughter and the +war leader? A good match. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Going across to the hut.</i>) Aye, a good +match!... Do you know, I have never been +in the Chisera's house. It is said she has a +great store of baskets and many beads. Let +us look. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No, no; do not go near it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Alarmed.</i>) <i>Kima!</i> Tiawa, she may be +watching you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>By the hut, but not daring to enter it.</i>) What +<a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> +harm to visit a neighbor's house when the +door is open. Besides, she makes no bad +medicine. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We know that she does not, but not that +she could not if she would. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Returning reluctantly.</i>) Why should we +hold the Chisera so apart from the campody? +Why should she not have a husband and +children as other women? How can she go +before the gods for us until she knows what +we are thinking in our hearts? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Jumping up.</i>) I have seen something +stirring in the alder bushes. I think the +Chisera comes! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do not be seen too near the hut. Come +away, Tiawa. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Have you the presents ready? (<i>The women +take up their baskets hastily.</i>) Hide your basket, +Seegooche. It is not well to let all your +<a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span> +gifts appear on the first showing, for if she is +not persuaded at first, we shall have something +of more worth. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>comes out of the trail by the +almond bushes, young and tall and +comely, but of dignified, almost forbidding, +carriage. She is dressed chiefly in +skins; her hair is very long, braided with +beads. She carries a small burden basket +on her back, supported by a band +about her forehead. She removes this, +and drops it at the hut, coming forward.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Friends, what have we to do with one another? +Seegooche, has your meal fermented? +Or has your baby the colic again, Wacoba? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We have a gift for you, Chisera. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women draw near timidly, each, as +she speaks, placing her basket at the</i> +<span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>feet, and retire.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Looking at the gifts, without touching them.</i>) +The venison is fat and tender; Seegooche, +<a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> +there is no one grinds meal so smoothly as +you. The honey is indeed acceptable. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>After a pause, during which the medicine +woman looks keenly at them.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We do not come for ourselves, Chisera, +but from the tribeswomen. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +From every one who has a husband or son +able to join battle. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Eagerly.</i>) Is there battle? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Even as we came, there was word that the +Castacs are camped at Pahrump, and before +night our men must meet them. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And you ask me—? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Approaching appealingly and sinking to +the ground in the stress of anxiety.</i>) A charm, +Chisera! +<a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Approaching with</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba</span>.) A most +potent medicine, O friend of the gods! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That our men may have strength and discretion. +That their hearts may not turn to +water and their knees quake under them— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Urgently.</i>) May the bows of Castac be +broken, and their arrows turned aside— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +For the lords of our bodies and the sons of +our bodies, a blessing, Chisera! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That our hearths may be kept alight and +our children know their fathers— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When the noise of battle is joined and the +buzzards come, may they feed on our foes, +Chisera— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +O friend of the gods, befriend us! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women cast dust on their hair and</i> +<a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> +<i>rock to and fro while the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> +<i>speaks, lifting up their arms in an +agony of entreating.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Am I not also a tribeswoman? Would not +I do so much for my people? But your +gifts and your prayers will be acceptable to +the gods, for of myself I can do nothing. (<i>She +stoops to the gifts, but hesitates.</i>) Who is this +that comes? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The young girls steal up noiselessly +through the bushes, led by the Chief's +daughter.</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>is lovely and +young; her hair, flowing loosely over her +shoulders and breast, is mingled with +strings of beads and bright berries. Her +dress of fringed buckskin is heavily +beaded, her arms are weighted with armlets +of silver and carved beads of turquoise; +about her neck hangs a disk of +glittering shell. She walks proudly, a +little in advance of the others, who bunch +up timidly like quail on the trail, behind +her. The women, catching sight of the +girls, spring up, frightened, and stand +half protectingly between them and the</i> +<span class="smcap">Chisera</span>.) +<a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is the Chief's daughter. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What do you here? You have neither sons +nor husbands that you should ask spells and +charms. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How, then, shall we have husbands or +sons, if the battle goes against us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Well answered, Chief's daughter. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Surprised.</i>) You know me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I have heard that the loveliest maiden of +Sagharawite is called Bright Water, daughter +of Rain Wind, Chief of the Paiutes. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Going over to</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span>.) You +should have stayed in the wickiup, my daughter; +you are too young to go seeking magic +medicine. +<a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The more need because we are young, +mother. If the loss of battle come to you, at +least you have had the love of a man and +the lips of children at the breast. But we, if +the battle goes against us, what have we? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ay, truly, Seegooche, there are no joys so +hard to do without as those we have not +had. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Therefore, we ask a charm, Chisera, for +our sweethearts; and, in the mean time, may +this remind you— +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She drops a bracelet in the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> +<i>basket.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">White Flower</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Going forward.</i>) The scarlet beads from +me, Chisera. I am to be married in the time +of tasseling corn. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The shells from me, Chisera. Good medicine! +<a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pioke</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Strong Bow is my lover, Chisera. Bring +him safe home again. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The girls retire after dropping their gifts +in the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>basket.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>A little stiffly.</i>) You have no need of gifts. +Am I not young, even as you? Should <i>you</i> +pray for your lover any more or less for the +sake of a few beads? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Anxiously.</i>) Be not angry, Chisera. They +would repay you for the dancing and the +singing. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>gathers up the gifts that the +older women have brought and goes into +the hut. The girls take up their gifts, puzzled.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I am afraid you have vexed her with your +foolish quest. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Has the Chisera a lover also, that she speak +so? +<a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is not possible and we not know of it, +for since her father's death if any sought her +hand in marriage, he must come to my husband +in the matter of dowry. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No fear that any will come while she is +still the Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She is the wisest of us all. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Wisdom is good as a guest, but it wears +out its welcome when it sits by the hearth-stone. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She has great power with the gods. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So much so that if she had a husband, he +dare not beat her lest she run and tattle to +them. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She is our Chisera, and there is not another +like her between Tehachappi and Tecuya. +<a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span> +If she were wearied with stooping and sweating, +if she were anxious with bearing and +rearing, how could she go before the gods +for us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Aye, that is the talk in the wickiups, that +we must hold her apart from us to give her +room for her great offices, but I have always +said—but I am old and nobody minds me—I +have always said that if she had loved +as we love and had borne as we have borne, +she would be the more fitted to entreat the +gods that we may not lose. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>As the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>comes out of the hut.</i>) If +you are angry, Chisera, turn it against our +enemies of Castac. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You know that I cannot curse. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it true, Chisera, that you make no bad +medicine? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Many kinds of sickness I can cure, and +give easy childbirth. I can bring rain, and +<a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span> +give fortune in the hunt, but of the making +of evil spells I know nothing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But your father, the medicine man—he +was the dread and wonder of the tribes. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Aye, my father could kill by a spell, and +make a wasting sickness with a frown, but +he thought such powers not proper to women: +therefore he taught me none. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But you will bring a blessing on the battle? +Oh, Chisera, they do not tell us women, but +we hear it whispered about the camp that +the men of Castac are five and twenty, and +even with the youths who go to their first +battle we cannot make a score of ours. It is +the Friend of the Soul of Man must make +good our numbers. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Even now I go to prepare strong medicine. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Come away, then, and leave the Chisera +to her work. <span class="dirright">(<i>Going.</i>)</span> +<a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +May the gods befriend you. If we have +your blessing, we care little for another's +curse. <span class="dirright">(<i>Going.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Stay. After all, we are but women together, +and if a woman may give counsel, +women may hear it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Would we might hear yours to-day! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When the smoke of the medicine fire +arises, so as to be seen from the spring, do +you come up along the creek as far as the +black rock. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Yes, yes! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When you hear the medicine rattles, stand +off by the toyon. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +By the toyon—yes! +<a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But when the rattles are stopped, and the +singing falls off, come up very softly, not to +disturb the Council, and hear what the gods +have said. If the men speak against it, I +will stand for you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Our thanks to you, Chisera, for this kindness. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And though you are a Chisera, and have +strange intercourse with the gods, I know +you a woman, by this token. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Doubt it not, but go. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Come away, girls. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>They go out, the girls with them. But</i> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>lingers, and comes +back to the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chief's daughter? +<a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Call me by my name. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Bright Water, what would you have of +me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Can you—will you make a charm for one +going out to battle whose name is not +spoken? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How shall the gods find him out, if he is +not to be named? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Earnestly.</i>) Oh, he is handsome and strong +in the shoulders; the muscles of his back are +laced like thongs. He is the bravest— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Laughing.</i>) Chief's daughter, whenever I +have made love charms, they have been for +men handsome and strong in the back. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Abashed.</i>) I know not how to describe +him. +<a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Still smiling.</i>) And his name is not to be +spoken? (<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>continues to look +down at her moccasin.</i>) If I had something of +his: something he had shaped with his hands +or worn upon his person, that I could make +medicine upon— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Like this? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Takes amulet from her neck and holds it +out.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Taking it.</i>) Did he give you this? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He made it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Examining it.</i>) It is skillfully fashioned. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Will it answer? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +To make a spell upon? Yes, if you can +spare it. +<a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Shall I have it again? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When the time is past for which the spell is +made. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Make it, then; a powerful medicine against +ill fortune in battle. And this for your pains, +Chisera. <span class="dirright">(<i>Holds out bracelet.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Proudly.</i>) I want no gifts. Keep your +bracelet. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With equal pride.</i>) The Chief's daughter +asks no favors. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But if a Chisera choose to confer them? +(<i>With sudden feeling.</i>) What question is +there between us of Chief's daughter and +Chisera? We are two women, and young. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Uncertainly.</i>) The Chisera is the friend of +the gods. +<a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And therefore not the friend of any tribeswoman? +(<i>Passionately.</i>) Oh, I am weary of +the friendship of the gods! If I have walked +in the midnight and heard what the great +ones have said, is that any reason I should +not know what a man says to a maid in the +dusk—or do a kindness to my own kind—or +love, and be beloved? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Moved.</i>) Therefore take it (<i>offering +bracelet again</i>) as one woman from another—and +you shall make a charm for me for love. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Taking the gift.</i>) I shall make it as though +I loved him myself. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Startled.</i>) Oh, I did not say I loved him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Smiling.</i>) No? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Studying the pattern of her moccasin.</i>) Is +it true, Chisera, that you have been called +<a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span> +to the Council that decides upon the war +leader who is to be chosen in my father's +place? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I am to inquire of the gods concerning it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Diffidently.</i>) Chisera, I have heard—my +father thinks—Simwa, the Arrow-Maker, is +well spoken of. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The first note of the love call is heard far +up the cliffs. The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>starts and +controls herself.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Coldly, in dismissal.</i>) Simwa needs the +good word of no man. It shall be as the gods +determine. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Goes over to hut. The love call sounds +nearer.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>After a moment's hesitation.</i>) Farewell, +Chisera. <span class="dirright">(<i>She goes.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Looking up the trail.</i>) Ah, Simwa, Simwa, +what bond there is between us, when, if I +<a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span> +but pronounce thy name in my heart, thy +voice answers. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The love call is repeated far up the cliffs +above her hut, and she answers it, singing:</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="poem"> +Over-long are thy feet on the trails,<br /> + O Much Desired!!<br /> +Dost thou not hear afar what my blood whispers,<br /> +Betraying my heart as the whir<br /> +Of the night-moth's wings betray the lilies?<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>As she sings</i>, <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <i>in full war dress, +comes dropping down, hand over hand, +from the rocks, until he stands beside +her.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Did you not hear me when first I called? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I heard you, Most Desired. When do I +not? Even when I sleep, my heart wakes to +hear you. The women have been with me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You know, then? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That this very night a war party of ours +must go out to meet the Castacs. +<a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And before that there will be a Council to +choose a war leader? Has the Chief told you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Not since this latest word, but yesterday +he bid me prepare a strong medicine, for he +thought the election would be made by lot. +But I did not tell him, O Much Desired, that +I had already made medicine a night and a +day to let the choice fall on you. A day and +a night by Deer Leap on Toorape, where +never foot but mine had been, I made medicine, +and the answer is sure. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That I shall get the leadership? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When have the gods denied me anything +that I asked for your sake, Arrow-Maker of +Sagharawite? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Padahoon hunts on a cold trail, and +there is nothing for me to do? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He sits on the bank and the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>sits +below him.</i>) +<a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Beloved, there is much to do, for before +the shadow which lies between my feet has +grown tall again, I must make medicine for +the sake of this war; and I have spent so +much on you, the power goes from me. Now, +you must put your hand upon my heart, and +nurse it warm, so that the people lack nothing +of their Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is that good, Chisera? <span class="dirright">(<i>Puts his arm about her.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Very good, Friend of my heart. <span class="dirright">(<i>She leans upon his arm.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Quickened by the caress.</i>) Chisera, what +did you do before I came? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Oh, then I lived in the dream of you. +When I ran in the trails, my heart expected +you at every turn, and in the dark of the hut +the sense of you brooded on my sleep. But +I thought it was all for the gods. +<a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Fatuously.</i>) Until I came. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Did I tell you, Simwa, that day when first +you found me dancing in the sun—you had +been gathering eagle's feathers for your +arrows, do you remember?—I thought that +day that you were of the gods yourself, for I +was sick with longing, and the spring was in +my blood. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And when I came again, what did you +think? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That you were the man most deserving +their favor, and that all the medicine I had +learned until then was merely that I might +persuade them for your sake. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Sitting up.</i>) Chisera, when you go up to +the Friend of the Soul of Man, you cannot +be always asking for the tribespeople. Do +you not sometimes ask for yourself? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What should I ask for when I have your +love? +<a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +For friends, perhaps, who are to be rewarded, +or those who have done you injuries? <span class="dirright">(<i>Watching her.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Laughing.</i>) Once, Simwa, before I was +sure of you, I made a singing medicine to +draw you from the camp. And you came, +Arrow-Maker of Sagharawite, you came. +(<i>Laying her hands on his bosom.</i>) Did you +not feel me draw you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Often and often, as it were a tie-rope in +my bosom between us. (<i>Letting go her hands +and stretching himself preparatory to rising.</i>) +But I did not think it was your medicine. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What then? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising and walking about.</i>) Your beauty +and the wonder of your dancing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Tell me, Simwa, in the beginning I know +you did not believe; but now you understand +<a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span> +the power I have from the Friend of the Soul +of Man? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Surely; now that I am about to be made +war leader by means of it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising and going back to the feathering of +the prayer-stick.</i>) But I have heard the +women gossiping at the spring— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What did they say? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That Simwa does not believe in charms +and scoffs at the gods. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That was true (<i>recovering</i>)—once. But +now that I am become the most notable +arrow-maker in Sagharawite— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Now—now you do not scoff at the Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Embarrassed.</i>) But it is not always well +<a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span> +for a man to say what he thinks. If I were +to tell in the campody whence my good fortune +is, would not Padahoon do me some +mischief for it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But, Simwa, am I never to come to you as +other women to the wickiups of their husbands? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What need, Chisera, when I come so often +to yours? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The need of women to serve openly where +they love. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But what service could you do me when +you had lost the respect of the tribesmen? +You know the tribal custom. It is not for the +friend of the gods to dig roots and dress +venison. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Throws himself on the bank beside her.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I have not found the gods any the less +friendly since I have loved, Arrow-Maker; +<a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span> +and I know not why it should seem strange +to others that I should know love as—as we +have known it. Only to-day the girls of the +village came to me to buy a charm to keep +their lovers safe in war. There was not one +but dared to ask, even though she would not +speak her lover's name for bashfulness. See, +one of them gave me this to make medicine +upon. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Taking it.</i>) Bright Water gave you this? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Surprised.</i>) How did you know? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I thought you said—that is, I have seen +her wear it. Did she tell you from whom she +had it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Not by his name, but by the way he looked +to her. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How was that? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As every lover looks to every maid—tall +<a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span> +and strong and straight of back. Even as +you look to me, Beloved. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Relieved, giving back the amulet.</i>) May +your medicine preserve him. And, as for me, +Chisera, I wish I could persuade the tribesmen +to look as favorably on me as you do. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But you have no enemies. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Sparrow Hawk, without doubt. +Could you give me a curse for him? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) Ah, you should not have asked +me that. Never since my father died have I +thought to regret that he did not teach me +the making of evil medicine. Would I had +all the curses in the world! (<i>Turning piteously +to him.</i>) But you do not love me any +the less because I have not one little, little +curse to give you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No, it is nothing. No curse can reach me +<a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span> +past your blessing. But I would not have +thought the old man would leave you wholly +unprotected. Why, even I could wrong you, +and, without a curse (<i>trying to speak lightly</i>) +you could not punish me for it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If no one does me no more wrong than you, +Simwa, I need no cursing. But, in truth, my +father did give me—Ah, now I have +thought of another gift for you, Arrow-Maker +of Sagharawite! Before he died, the +medicine man, my father—did I not tell +you? (<i>she rummages eagerly in her medicine +bag</i>)—gave me this magic arrow against +my evil hour. (<i>Drawing it out.</i>) See how +heavy it is, and how the blood drain is cut +in a medicine writing round and round the +shaft. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What magic has it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That however far and feebly it is shot, it +flies straight to the mark, over hills and high +mountains, in the dark or light, and death +rides upon its shaft. (<i>Laughing.</i>) Why, you +<a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span> +could kill even me with this arrow. See, I +have tied it in your quiver, so that you may +not mistake it and shoot it away on any +slight occasion. It is my latest gift to you, +Beloved. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Thanks for the gift, Chisera. Now give +me the quiver. I must join the others before +the Council. The fighting men were painting +their faces when I came. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>A war-whoop is heard at a distance.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I hear shouting. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I must go quickly. I would not have +Padahoon find me here. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Yes, he would brood upon it like a sage +hen, until he had hatched mischief. Oh, +Simwa, though I have prayed the gods until +they and I are weary, to keep you safe in this +war, yet my heart shakes to see you go. +There is a beating in my breast as of the +wings of vultures after battle. +<a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You have wearied yourself too much making +medicine. If you have no more faith in +the gods, have a little in me. If I can go out +of Sagharawite as war leader, I shall come +back with the spoil of Castac. (<i>Shouts are +heard nearer than before.</i>) Now I go quickly! +(<i>He turns carelessly from her lingering caress +and crosses to the toyon, starting back at the +sight of</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>, <i>moving noiselessly through +the chaparral, blanketed and watchful.</i>) What! +Has the Sparrow Hawk eaten <i>when-o-nabe</i> +that he must visit the Chisera on the eve of +Council? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I come from the Chief—but I had not +expected to find Simwa, the scoffer, before +me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Uneasily.</i>) I have been gathering eagles' +feathers for my arrows under Toorape. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Quite so—and are not the first hunter to +find the shortest way past the house of the +Medicine Woman. But it is well known +<a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span> +that Simwa seeks no charms for himself. +The Chief has been asking for you. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He passes on to the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>standing +stiffly with strained attention by her hut.</i> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>hesitates, recovers himself, and +passes out with the appearance of indifference.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +Chisera, Rain Wind, Chief of Sagharawite, +greets you, and bids me say that at the moth-hour +he will be here with the fighting men to +invite the favor of the gods in this war with +Castac. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And before that—? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +There will be a Council— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +To choose a war leader. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So the Chief has said. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And it is the purpose of the Council to put +this election to the gods? +<a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It may come to that—(<i>A pause.</i>) Chief +Rain Wind is a dotard. What should a +woman know of these matters? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +All that the gods are thinking in their +hearts. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The gods, aye! But what word have +the gods of the affairs of Sagharawite except +as you carry it? Now between us—Chisera— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What is there between us, Padahoon, that +our talk should be otherwise than appears +at the Council? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +There should be a matter of two doeskins, +tanned white and fine (<i>he produces them from +under his blanket</i>) if the gods are friendly. +Look, Chisera! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He spreads them out before the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, +<i>who is seated by the hut, feathering a +prayer-stick.</i>) +<a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Dropping the doeskins negligently.</i>) Oh, +the man can make an arrow. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But not lead a war party? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +A war leader, Chisera, should be neither +old and timid, nor young and overbold, but +of middle years and discretion; not so hot in +his heart that his head cannot reason with it, +nor so reasonable that it cools his heart. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>As he stands again, his hands are folded +inside his arms; he is not so sure of his +errand</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Like ... Padahoon. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Wheedling.</i>) What will the gods think of +a blanket of the Navajoes (<i>he spreads it out +before her</i>)—thick and fine—and four +strings of shells—and a cake of mesquite +meal—? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Are the gods a-cold, Padahoon, that you +<a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span> +bring them a blanket? Is there hunger in +their camp, think you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let the things stay in yours, Chisera; they +will remind you to speak well of me when you +go before the Friend of the Soul of Man. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Put up your pack, Padahoon! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is a little matter, Chisera; a handful of +sticks thrown on the ground. What should +the gods care for a handful of sticks? And +the blanket is very thick. Shall I leave it a +little while, that you may admire it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Put up your pack, Padahoon, and learn +not to think so lightly of the gods, lest they +visit it upon you! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Reluctantly putting up the bribe; after a +pause, revolving new measures.</i>) Chisera, this +is a man's business which comes before you +in the Council. Will you hear man-talk from +me? +<a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it possible the Sparrow Hawk does so +much credit to my understanding? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera, we have had peace now at Sagharawite +so many summers that scarcely a +man of us besides myself has seen battle; +also we are a little outnumbered. Have +you thought, Chisera, what will come to +Sagharawite if we go out under an untried +leader? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What will come will be as the gods determine. +What reason have you to think they +will favor you more than Simwa? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is my experience, Chisera, that the gods +are inclined to the better man. And, look +you, Chisera, this is perhaps my last chance +to serve my people. Comes another war, if +there are enough of us left after this to make +another war possible, I shall be too old for +leadership. And I have that in me which I +would prove before I die. This is man-talk, +Chisera. Do you understand it? +<a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I understand that you want greatly this +election, but I can do nothing except as the +gods declare. Put up your pack, Padahoon, +I have work to do. <span class="dirright">(<i>Rising.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Putting up his pack.</i>) How much did +Simwa give you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Startled.</i>) Simwa! (<i>Recovering herself.</i>) +The Arrow-Maker of Sagharawite leaves all +higher matters where they belong. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa put trust in the gods! Simwa believe +that by singing and dancing and waving +of arms, with a rag of buckskin and a +hair of your head and three leaves of a seldom-flowering +plant, you can turn the fortunes +of war? This will be news for the +fighting men, Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Quivering, but controlling herself.</i>) Padahoon, +now by this I am minded to prove +what the gods can do against tale-bearers +<a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span> +and snakes in the grass! (<i>Balancing her medicine +stick for a moment, she seems on the point +of invoking the gods against him, but thinks +better of it.</i>) Nay, but the gods have greater +affairs. (<i>Sound of the drums in the direction +of the camp.</i>) Now I go to prepare strong +medicine so that you shall know, Padahoon, +how the gods choose between you and the +Arrow-Maker. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She goes into the hut and lets fall the curtain.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span>, <span class="smcap">Yavi</span>, <i>and other youths +to prepare for the Council.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is the Chisera advised of the Council? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Even now she prepares herself in the wickiup. +Where is the Chief? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He stays only until the fighting men are +gathered together. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I will join them. See that the Chisera is +not disturbed before her time. <span class="dirright">(<i>He goes out.</i>)</span> +<a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Over there in front of the wickiup, one of +you light the medicine fire, but do not light +it until the Chisera comes. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Yavi</span> <i>and another prepare the fire.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How is it that the Chisera will discover +the will of the gods? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Spread a blanket there, where the Chief +and the Chisera will sit—(<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Yavi</span>.) By +the casting of the seven sacred sticks. As the +gods will they make the sticks to fall in a +sign that she can read. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it so that the Medicine Worker sometimes +fails? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Medicine men have died at it before now—and +better so, for otherwise they should +have died by the law. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is that the law? +<a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Surely, surely. For of what use is an +advocate with the gods if he cannot get to +them. It would be so with the Chisera. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>As the preparations have gone forward, +the sound of the drums and rattles, +with an occasional subdued whoop, has +drawn nearer, and the Fighting Men, +led by the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span>, <i>in full fighting gear, +arrive in single file marching to the +drums. The procession halts in the +open space before the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>hut.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let the Council sit. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Eleven of the elders seat themselves in a +circle about the fire, turning toward the</i> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span>. <i>The others stand or sit attentively +in the background. The</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span> +<i>at the fire hands the ceremonial pipe to</i> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span> <i>who lights it.</i> <span class="smcap">Rain Wind</span> <i>blows +a puff of smoke to all the gods, returning +to his place in the Council; the pipe +passes from hand to hand; when it has +passed all about, each tribesman blowing +smoke and saluting, the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span> <i>rises +and stands before the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>hut</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +Chisera, Chisera, come to Council! +<a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Advancing to his side.</i>) Rain Wind, Chief +of Sagharawite, what will you have of me? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span> <i>lights the medicine fire.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +To carry a matter too hard for us before +the Friend of the Soul of Man. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Nothing that men contrive in their hearts +is too hard for the gods. Speak, then! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Goes and sits beside the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) Tribesmen, for as many years as +a fir tree needs to bear cones, I have been +Chief in Sagharawite. Now I am old, and, +like a badger, see only my own trail (<i>grunts +of dissent</i>), and my legs carry me no farther +than my eyes see. Therefore, since there is +war with Castac concerning the piņon trees +which are ours (<i>grunts and exclamations</i>), it is +right you have a younger man to lead you. +But, since it has never happened that there +must be a war leader chosen while there is a +chief alive and sitting in Council, I think it +<a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span> +well to inquire how the gods stand toward us. +Tribesmen, what do you say? <span class="dirright">(<i>Sits with great dignity.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising and saluting the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span> <i>with lifted +hand. Speaking with great deliberation and +winning sober approval.</i>) Chief Rain Wind +has said. The occasion is strange and the +candidates of such diverse but equal merit +that it is impossible for a just man to choose +between them. Let the Chisera carry it to +the gods. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +This is truth which Choco says—whom +the gods will favor they favor. They are not +greatly bound to the choice of men. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Council</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Good counsel! good counsel! <span class="dirright">(<i>Assent from the bystanders.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Continuing, with earnestness.</i>) Tribesmen, +I am not myself of two minds in this business. +I speak freely for Padahoon according +to our custom which is, without discredit to +<a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span> +the Arrow-Maker, for the leadership of the +elder. But at least let us remember that the +gods have high affairs; they are not always +listening to the gossip of the camp-fire and +hut. What word have they of Sagharawite +except as the Chisera carries it? If we put +the choice to them, let her know what we +are thinking in our hearts. Let Simwa and +Sparrow Hawk declare it so that we and the +gods shall know how they stand toward the +conduct of this war. I have said. <span class="dirright">(<i>Seats himself amid general approval.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Old Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Good counsel! Good counsel! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tribesmen</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa! Padahoon! The Arrow-Maker! +Padahoon! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Padahoon, you have the more years; say +what you will do. And do you, Chisera, bear +it well in your heart as you go up before the +Friend of the Soul of Man. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The trail of the gods is hard and none may +<a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span> +walk therein save those that walk sincerely. +Speak, then! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) Chief and tribesmen, you know +me. What I think in my heart, I say; and +what I say I do. The +piñon +trees are ours, +since the time of our father's fathers (<i>general +assent</i>), and this is a vain fight for the men of +Castac. Inasmuch as they have crossed our +borders, they do evilly, but they are also +Paiutes, as we are, and sons of the Bear. +Aforetime when the Tecuyas came against +us, they were as our brothers. Now, were I +war leader, I should leave them at Pahrump +and, going up behind the ridge of Toorape, +strike at their villages. When we have their +women and children and their stores, we can +make terms with our brothers of Castac. So +shall we save our honor and our allies. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Good counsel! Ugh! Huh! Padahoon! +Good counsel! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Speak, Simwa! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) Shall I call a thief my brother, +<a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span> +and is a poacher my fellow that I should +respect him? Sons of the Bear are the men of +Castac? Aye, bastard sons, and the coyote is +their mother. (<i>Grunts and cries of approval.</i>) +The Castacs have filled up our springs and +driven our deer. They have stalked our +hunters in the hills. (<i>Grunts.</i>) Aye, but we +have given the stalkers arrows of ours to +keep. (<i>Grunts of satisfaction.</i>) Shall we go +after our arrows, men of Sagharawite, or +shall we wait until our “brothers” of Castac +come and stroke us? I am not so old as +Padahoon, nor so wise, but, by the Bear that +fathered us, were I war leader for the space +of one moon, there would be no more men of +Castac to trouble our harvest. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Young Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa! Simwa! The Arrow-Maker! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Old Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Padahoon! Padahoon! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Tribesmen, the wisdom of Padahoon is +sound, and such as every man has in his own +head; but the speech of Simwa is a water of +mirage about our understanding. Shall we +try what the gods will do? <span class="dirright">(<i>Nods and grunts of approval.</i>)</span> +<a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Old Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The gods—the Chisera—the Chisera! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The best of the spoil of Castac is yours, +Chisera, if the choice be fortunate. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising to begin.</i>) I want no spoil; this is +also my quarrel. How will you have the venture +tried? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The sticks! The sacred sticks! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>produces the sticks from +her medicine bag, and hands them to one +of the Old Men. To each of the others +who will dance with her (two or three) +she gives a fetish from her bag. They +have already put on appropriate headdresses +and are prepared for dancing. +She motions the rattles to begin. Behind +her are the Old Men, with the drums and +rattles; on each side, the Fighting Men +seated on the ground. The dance begins, +the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>singing. The Old Men +keep up a crooning accompaniment; +from time to time the Fighting Men join</i> +<a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span> +<i>the singing and exhibit a growing excitement +as the dance progresses. At +intervals, one and another of them, leaps +to his feet and joins the dance. At the +last, the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>whirling rapidly, +falls to the ground. Instantly the rattles +are stopped, and the people wait in suspense +the word of the gods. The women +are seen to steal up through the toyon +bushes. The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>lifts herself +slowly on one elbow, as if waking from +a drugged sleep. She stretches out her +hand for the sacred sticks. She drops +them with a quick turn of the wrist, +gathers them up and drops them again, +seeking for an augury. She throws up +the arm with the medicine stick and +begins to chant</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p class="poem"> +The bows of Castac shall be broken.<br /> +The bowstring shall break asunder.<br /> +The bows of thy foes shall be broken and the vultures come to the battle.<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Excitement and confusion.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The omen, the omen! the war leader! +<a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +(<i>Chanting</i>)<br /> +</p> +<p class="poem"> +The Maker of Arrows shall lead you.<br /> +He that makes arrows of eagles' feathers,<br /> +Arrow-Maker of Sagharawite, he shall lead you,<br /> +Simwa shall break the bows of Castac.<br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tribesmen</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The Indians break into a great shout for</i> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span>. <span class="smcap">Rain Wind</span> <i>puts a collar of +bears' claws about</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa's</span> <i>neck, lifts +his war-bonnet and places it on his head.</i> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>raises his war-club with a great +shout, dancing about the half-prostrate +form of the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>the Fighting Men +one by one falling into the dance with +wild exultant movements, chanting</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="poem"> +The bows of Castac shall be broken!<br /> +The bowstring shall break asunder!<br /> +He shall break the bows of Castac!<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>As they pass out on the war trail shouting, +the women are seen to come to the help +of the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="curtain"> +CURTAIN<br /> +<a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span> +</p> +<h2> +<a name="chapter9" /> +ACT SECOND +</h2> +<p> +<span class="smcap">Scene.</span>—<i>The campody of Sagharawite, three +months later, near the new wickiup of the +Arrow-Maker. At the right, the house of</i> +<span class="smcap">Rain Wind</span>, <i>and behind all a spring under +a clump of dwarf oaks. A little trail +runs between stones to connect the Arrow-Maker +with the rest of the campody, and +beyond it the valley rises gently to the +Sierra foothills, brooding under the spring +haze. A little to the fore of</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa's</span> <i>house +lies a great heap of blankets, baskets, and +camp utensils, displayed to the best advantage, +the wedding dower of the Chief's +daughter. By her father's house</i> <span class="smcap">Bright +Water</span> <i>is being dressed for bridal by her +young companions. They braid her hair, +paint her face, tie her moccasins, and +arrange her beads over the robe of white +doeskin; they laugh as they work and are +happily important as is the custom of +bridesmaids. The older women are winnowing +grain and grinding at the metate.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>At the left and front</i>, <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span>, <i>and +others are gambling with dice made of</i> +<a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span> +<i>halves of black-walnut hulls, filled with +pitch; the number indicated by bits of +shell embedded in the pitch. They are +shaken in a small basket and turned out +on a basket plaque.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>The older men look on, smoking.</i> <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span> <i>is +broad-faced and merry, and does not neglect +to ogle the girls at intervals, which +causes them to giggle and hide their heads +in their blankets. The men have on their +holiday dress, especially the younger companions +of</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Throwing.</i>) Five! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Throwing.</i>) And five again! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hi! Hi! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Four! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Seven! (<i>Exclamations.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Bringing a blanket.</i>) Here, let us spread +<a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span> +the blanket where the newly married pair +shall sit when first my daughter comes to +her husband's house. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women assist her, spreading it in +front of</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa's</span> <i>house.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And this time next year, may you be a +grandmother. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I pray so. To-morrow I shall go to the +Chisera and get a charm to make it sure. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Does not the Chisera come to the wedding? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I wished it so, but Simwa has no faith in +magic medicine. He thinks we show her too +much respect because of her mumblings and +wavings of arms. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It would have been neighborly to invite her. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I should be afraid lest some mischief came +of this neglect. +<a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So am I; but Simwa would not have her +asked. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She passes to her own hut and brings out +grain and pine nuts, with which the +other women fill their ceremonial baskets.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No doubt Simwa feels that the gods have +done so much for him that he can afford to +dispense with an advocate. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Haiwai</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Who has approached unnoticed.</i>) Small +wonder he thinks so when you remember how +he brought our men back scatheless with the +spoil of Castac. Seegooche, I bring the best +of my share to grace your daughter's wedding. <span class="dirright">(<i>Offers basket.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Taking it and handing it about.</i>) My +thanks to you. (<i>Noticing the papoose which +she carries strapped in a basket at her back.</i>) +And who is this that comes to my house uninvited? +<a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Haiwai</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Nay, but he came to mine but five days +since; and already he grips like a man! <span class="dirright">(<i>Showing him about proudly.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hey, little warrior! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah, let me have him, Haiwai! I will hold +him carefully. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Still seated, she reaches up her arms for +the child and coos over it.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let me! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Takes the basket from</i> <span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span> <i>and rocks +the basket, crooning.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="poem"> +Hey, little dove, hush, little dove,<br /> +'Tis the wind rocking<br /> +Thy nest in the pine tree.<br /> +Hey, little dove.<br /> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">White Flower</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chief's daughter, do you think you will be +able to do so well by your husband? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>gives back the child to +its mother in great confusion</i>.) +<a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do not plague her. (<i>The women return to +their work.</i>) It is the way with maids, the +nearer they are to mothering the less they +wish to hear of it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Still I would see the Chisera if I were you. +It is a pity she is not invited. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Painting</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span>.) Tell me, Seegooche, +do I put the white on her cheeks too, +or only on the forehead. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Alarmed.</i>) No, no white at all, not on +her wedding day. It is an evil omen. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Wiping it off hastily.</i>) Then I will take it +off again. All the misfortune be on my head. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Never fear, mother, I am so defended by +happiness no evil could get near me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">White Flower</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Besides, the bride of Simwa need fear no +<a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span> +omens. The luck of her husband will protect +her. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tuiyo</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With a final touch.</i>) There, come to the +spring and see how lovely you are. <span class="dirright">(<i>The girls all rise.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That's bad medicine you make for us +unmarried men. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Standing forth in her bridal array.</i>) Is it so +bad, Simwa? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>answers with his eyes</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Already he is speechless, and I have +staked him my collar of elks' teeth as a charm +against it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Tavwots, you have eaten meadowlarks' +tongues. If you had a wife, you would keep +her in a gambling basket. (<i>At the spring.</i>) +Now I need only flowers for my hair. Let us +go get them. <span class="dirright">(<i>The girls go out.</i>)</span> +<a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Throwing down his collar of elks' teeth.</i>) +By the Bear, Simwa, I do not know how it is +you persuade the gods to be always on your +side. First you are made war leader, then +you marry the Chief's daughter, and now +you have my collar of elks' teeth to top all. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Gathering up the stakes.</i>) Will you take a +chance to have it back again? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I would, if I had anything to stake you; +but my luck has left me little but my shirt. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I will play you for that. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Not until after the wedding. <span class="dirright">(<i>Rises.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As you like. Your shirt against the collar. +Do you play, friends? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">First Indian</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Not I. +<a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Nor I. The luck is all to Simwa. (<i>All rise.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Yes. One would think he had been courting +the Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Who has risen, turning sharply.</i>) How? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I said I could not guess how you manage +to be always winning, unless you have made +love to the Chisera, and she has persuaded +the gods for you. (<i>Slapping him on the back.</i>) +Why, this is the first time you were ever +accused of love-making and looked sourly +over it! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Smirking.</i>) No fault of mine if the women +like a good figure. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No advantage either from this time henceforward. +Here comes Chief Rain Wind to +marry you to his daughter. +<a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Issuing from his wickiup in full holiday +dress, blanketed.</i>) Where is she? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She gathers flowers with her young companions. +She comes presently. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Bid the married women prepare to bless +the bridal. Are the guests all here? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Choco and the others who went out to +hunt early this morning have not yet returned. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I would speak with them when they come. +And Padahoon? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I do not know, unless he visits the Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Startled.</i>) Padahoon? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So often does he go to her house, if he did +<a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span> +not have a wife already, I should think he +had an eye to her. The best cut of my next +kill against my shirt, Simwa, that he goes to +find ways to make good against you the loss +of the leadership. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Complacently.</i>) Padahoon cannot forgive +me the victory at Castac. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Well, if the Tecuya Creek tribes keep up +their quarreling, we are all likely to wish you +had not killed off so many of their fighting +men. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I shall deal with the Tecuyas as I did with +Castac. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The gods were with you. Next time +Padahoon may win the Chisera to be on his +side. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Suspiciously.</i>) What do you mean? Am +I not war leader of Sagharawite? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So long as we and the gods approve you. +<a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span> +But if I were the gods, and the Chisera came +dancing before me— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Tavwots, your wit misleads you. The +Chisera is not a subject for jest or the favor +of men; she is an advocate with the gods for +us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Well, the gods have a handsome advocate. +I should give her anything she asked. (<i>Looking +off.</i>) See, bridegroom, the girls are dancing, +and you not with them! +(<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>and several of the younger men go out.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Detaining</i> <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span>.) Tavwots, what do +you know of this Tecuya Creek matter? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +More than I like to spoil a feast-day with. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, tell it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +They have forbidden all the campodies +east of us from fishing in the river. Also they +<a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span> +watch all the trails toward Toorape and take +toll of passers. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +On what grounds? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +None, I think, except that they are able. +A bowman of Tehachappi inquired of me +how many fell at Castac, and I, thinking to +glorify the tribe,—I told him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What said he to that? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What I should have expected. He grinned +upon me like a sick coyote and said, “They +are poor allies, the dead.” +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Here are the hunters. They will know if +there is mischief stirring. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Enter from the left</i>, <span class="smcap">Choco</span>, <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span>, <i>and +others, carrying game.</i>) +<a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And with the Arrow-Maker's own luck! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So far as the quarry goes. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But not for the hunters—? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To him.</i>) Send the younger men away. I +have a word for you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You, Fleet-Foot, Yavi, all of you—carry +the game to the women and help them dress +it for the feast. (<i>The young men take up the +game and go out, leaving</i> <span class="smcap">Choco</span>, <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span>, +<i>and the Old Men with the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span>.) Let us hear +your word, Choco. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Taking a long arrow from under his +blanket.</i>) What make you of that? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Examining it.</i>) Tecuya Creek, surely. +<a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Old Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Handing it about.</i>) Tecuya—Tecuya. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Where did you find it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Where I like least to see it—in the body +of a friend. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah—a—a—ah! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What friend? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Winnedumah. He went out to the hunt +yesterday and was to have joined us this +morning at Deer Leap. I found him by the +crossing of the trails, with that through him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Bad business. What say you it means? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That the Tecuyas think we dare not +avenge it. +<a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Dare not! Simwa must hear of this, but +not on his wedding day. To-morrow we will +take counsel. I would I might have a word +with Padahoon. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He is there on the <i>barranca</i>; I will call him. +Oh—ee, Padahoon! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Appearing on the barranca.</i>) What now? +(<i>Ironically.</i>) Can not the Arrow-Maker so +much as take a wife without calling all the +tribes to witness? (<i>Coming down the barranca, +noting their gravity.</i>) What has happened? +Is the Council called? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +For to-morrow. In the mean time there is +this. <span class="dirright">(<i>Handing up the arrow.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Standing halfway down the bank as he +examines it.</i>) An arrow of Tecuya. Blood? +Blood of Sagharawite? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Of Winnedumah. +<a name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Blazing forth.</i>) By the Bear that fathered +us! It is likely to prove an open wound in the +honor of Sagharawite. Not ten sleeps have +passed since the last of our fighting men +returned from the killing of our blood brothers, +and already we have a witness to our +folly! The Tecuyas are three to one of us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But the luck of Simwa is more than three +times that of Tecuya. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The fortunes of Simwa! What are they +but the accidents of time and weather. A +landslip on the trail, a rainstorm that wetted +their bowstrings and left ours dry. The +damp has slacked your wits, Rain Wind, +that you are not able to distinguish between +the Arrow-Maker and his luck. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The witness of the gods in his favor. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The gods are not always so attentive. +Where was the luck of the Arrow-Maker that +<a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span> +it has not saved us from this? (<i>Shaking the +arrow as he descends.</i>) Show me something +which we owe to Simwa if you would have +me trust in him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I will show you the pit of your own heart, +Padahoon, and the adder that bites at the +root of it. You are jealous of the fame and +the office of Simwa, but you shall not sink +your venom in the minds of the Fighting +Men. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I would I could sting them to understand +that if Tecuya comes against us, they will +not trust so much to luck as to war craft. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Understand yourself that whatever comes +of this business of Tecuya, Simwa is still war +leader. You are too old a man, Padahoon, +to be told that whoever lessens the credit of +the war leader saps at the strength of Sagharawite. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Aye, I am an old man and in my dotage +when I seek to set years of good faith and +<a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span> +experience against the fortunate moments +of a fool. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Chief has spoken. No more of this +until the Council. In the mean time, not a +word to the women. It is an ill omen for a +feast. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He goes out, followed by all but</i> <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span>, +<span class="smcap">Choco</span>, <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Laying his hand on the shoulder of</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>.) +By the Bear, Padahoon, I have been +on your side in this matter heretofore, but +now I think the Chief is right. It is an ill +business setting men against the war leader +in time of danger. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You too, Tavwots—you have looked at +the lure of the Arrow-Maker's luck and do +not see the snare which his want of wit +spreads for your feet? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Uncertainly.</i>) But if the fortune of Simwa +is not his own, whence is it? +<a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Tell me, Tavwots, when another man +seeks favor from the gods, by whom does it +come? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +By the Chisera. But what— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +On the morning of the election, when I +went from the Chief to advise the Chisera, +I met Simwa by her hut. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I also met him when I came back from +Leaping Water to bring word to the women—he +said he had been gathering eagles' +feathers for his arrows. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So he said to me. Feathers for arrows +when every man had his quiver full at his +back! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But Simwa puts no faith in magic medicine. +Why, he has not even asked the Chisera +to his wedding! +<a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No, not even though the Chief's daughter +urged it. <span class="dirright">(<i>A pause full of significance.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No, no! Padahoon! Unless the Chisera +owned to it herself, I would not believe it. +The Chief is right. The wound of your +jealousy festers and corrupts your tongue. +(<i>Turning his back on</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>he claps</i> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span> <i>on the shoulder.</i>) Come and +dance! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Gathering his blanket around him.</i>) Even +if the Chisera owned it, I would not believe +it. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The men move in the direction of the +merrymaking and are met by the younger +people, laughing and shouting for</i> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span>. <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>watches them bitterly +for a while, and, revolving many +things, draws his blanket up and departs +in the direction of the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> +<i>hut.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Come, Arrow-Maker, a speech for your +bridal. <span class="dirright">(<i>Laughter and approval.</i>)</span> +<a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Drunk with popularity.</i>) The war leader +loves deeds rather than talking. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We have seen what your fighting is like. +Give us a speech. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Friends and tribesmen, the fortune of +Simwa is Simwa. Does the Bear take weapons +against the woodchuck, and shall the +sons of the Bear make charms against their +enemies? The spoil of Castac is in our camp +(<i>cheers</i>) and our young men hunt within +their borders. (<i>Applause.</i>) If any of the +tribes inquire where are the fullest harvests, +the fattest deer, the prettiest maidens (<i>he +flings his blanket about</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span>), bid +him look for the land of Simwa the Arrow-Maker. +(<i>Shouts and laughter.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Young Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Come, now, a dance, a dance! Tavwots, +dance for us! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The cries increasing</i>, <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span> <i>is pushed +forward to dance, others cry for</i> <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span> +<i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Yavi</span>, <i>who join</i> <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span>, +<a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span> +<i>laughing, to dance the blanket dance, all +the others singing and keeping time with +swaying bodies. The girls hover about +the dancers, and as at certain points in +the dance the Young Men attempt to +cast their blankets about the heads of the +girls, they duck and squeal. Finally, +amid much laughter, each dancer captures +a girl, rubbing his cheek against +hers, the Indian equivalent of a kiss. +With great merriment the crowd moves +off in the direction of the mesa, disclosing</i> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, +<i>who have come up unobserved</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Come this way, Chisera. The girls are out +on the <i>mesa</i>, dancing with the bride, and the +women are grinding at the metate for the +marriage feast. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But where is Simwa? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +With the bride, no doubt. Here is his +wickiup, and here the marriage dower beside +it. +<a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +All this? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Never so many gifts went to a wedding in +Sagharawite. Every woman whose man +came back safe from the war gave a basket +or a blanket, and Simwa gave all of his share +of the spoil of Castac. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And that, I doubt not, is bitter for you to +see, Padahoon. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Why, as to that, Chisera, it is good to see +spoil of our foes in the camp; but the fighting +men of Castac were our blood brothers. See, +here is the blanket where the newly married +pair shall sit to receive the blessings of the +fruitful women. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Bitterly.</i>) But not the blessing of the +Chisera. Never before, in my time, has there +been a bride of Sagharawite but sent to ask +my blessing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Aye, but Simwa does not believe in charms +<a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span> +and spells. (<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>seems about to +break out angrily, but restrains herself.</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> +<i>watches her narrowly as he speaks.</i>) +Look, Chisera! Is not the bride fair? Fit to +set a man beside himself with desiring? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She is but a child. Her breasts are scarcely +grown. No fit mate for a war leader. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Watching her.</i>) But a man so well furnished +with wisdom need not look for it in a +wife. Is it not so, Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Padahoon, why do you tell me this? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With the appearance of candor.</i>) As often +as I came to your house to get medicine, you +asked me for news of the campody, and +seemed best pleased with news of Simwa, the +war leader; and with reason, since he has +become the most notable man of the Paiutes. +Yet, when I told you he was to be married +to-day to the Chief's daughter, you were slow +to believe. Now tell me if I have lied, +Chisera. +<a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You have not lied, Padahoon, but Simwa, +he has lied. How long have you known this? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Since the time of Taboose. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And why not told me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How could I think the Chisera wished to +know? It was a thing you might have heard +from the women grinding meal or weaving +baskets. But the Chisera does not often +come to the village, except there is illness. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I have no time to gossip with the women. +I have to go before the gods for them and +their children. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And now that you are told, what will you +do? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is there so much to do? +<a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Only to give him your blessing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Bitterly.</i>) Did I not give him that at +Castac? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Begins to search about among Simwa's +effects.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What seek you, Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The arrow! the quiver! Surely Simwa does +not dance at his wedding wearing his quiver? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No; but when he is not wearing it, no man +knows where he hides it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Searching.</i>) The quiver! I must find the +quiver! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +'Tis said he has a magic arrow in it of +such power he would have it fall into no +man's hands. +<a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Muttering.</i>) Aye, the arrow; the black +arrow. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera, why does this marriage disturb +you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Padahoon, why should you think it disturbs +me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You have come. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Why should not one maid come to the +marriage of another? There is scarce two +summers' difference between me and the +Chief's daughter. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Yes, but you come in your blanket. Such +has not been your custom when you have +come among us on errands of healing; then +you dressed sumptuously, as befitted one +bearing the word of the gods. Now you come +like an angry woman who would hide what +is in her heart. +<a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With dignity.</i>) Cover your own heart, +Padahoon, lest I ask what mischief breeds in +it to bid you observe me so much. I have not +forgot that you would have paid me a blanket +to be made war leader in the room of Simwa. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With ugly insinuation.</i>) Ugh! huh! Perhaps +I had been as fortunate as the Arrow-Maker, +if, instead of giving it, I had offered +to share it with you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +<i>Kima!</i> Padahoon, you do tempt me to +try if I can curse. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Conciliatory.</i>) I have no wish to anger the +friend of the gods, but I am a plain man +wishing good to my campody, and it seems +not good to me that Simwa has grown suddenly +so great. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Recovering herself.</i>) What has that to do +with the Chisera? +<a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I have known this Simwa since he was +first tied in a basket, and, though he has +grown to be war leader, I think he is most +like a pod of rattleweed that is swollen to +twice its size at the end of the season, yet +has no more in it than at the beginning. And +I do not know how, without the help of magic +medicine, he has come to be what he is with +so little in him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Chief's daughter has trusted him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She loves him. (<i>During this scene bursts +of Indian music and singing have been heard +at intervals. It grows louder.</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>and</i> +<span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>look off.</i>) They come this way, +Chisera. You are right. When a man has +married so fair a wife, there is not much left +to be done for him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With bitter irony, as she moves over against</i> +<span class="smcap">Simwa's</span> <i>hut and puts up her blanket.</i>) I am +not so sure. +<a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With alarm.</i>) Where is my daughter? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>enters with the young +girls, laughing and talking. Her hair +is braided with golden poppies and falls +over her shoulders. She sees the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> +<i>standing, tall and still, by</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa's</span> +<i>hut, her whole figure shrouded in a +blanket, which is drawn up to cover all +of her face but the eyes.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Who is it comes to my wedding uninvited? +How her eyes burn upon me! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hush! She will hear you. It is the +Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Chisera? Never have I seen her like +this. But she has come to bring me a +blessing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do not speak to her, my daughter; she is +not in the humor for it. +<a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Shall I not be courteous to the first guest +who has come to my husband's house? +Chisera, I am pleased that you have come to +bless my marriage. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Out of her blanket.</i>) Where is Simwa? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He comes soon. (<i>Going to her.</i>) Last night +I thought of you, and how you alone, of all +Sagharawite, had kept away from my happiness— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let be, daughter. (<i>Pulling her sleeve.</i>) It +is ill stirring a coiled snake. (<i>To the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, +<i>with intent to draw her off.</i>) Come this way, +Chisera, and I will show you the wedding +presents. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Lowering her blanket a little.</i>) Show me +the Arrow-Maker. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The elder men have entered, among them</i> +<span class="smcap">Rain Wind</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What is this? +<a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is the Chisera asking for Simwa. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah! ah! ah—ah! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Exchanging glances of inquiry and +amazement.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Who is that behind her? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Padahoon! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Men</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ugh! huh! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So? Why does she cover her face? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She makes medicine in her blanket. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The Indians draw close in two groups, +the women together and the men on the +other side. They watch the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>uneasily.</i> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>stands a little +apart, the bridesmaids moving timidly +toward the elder women.</i>) +<a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Putting down her blanket.</i>) The Arrow-Maker +of Sagharawite is slow to the bridal. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He comes. He comes. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The young men enter, with</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>in +their midst, painted and befeathered as +befits a handsome man on his wedding +day. Observing the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>he checks +and falters in his walk.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it you, Simwa, who wed with the Chief's +daughter? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You are come, Chisera—(<i>Wholly at a +loss.</i>) You are come— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I am come to your marriage, Simwa, +though I am not invited. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But now that she is here, Simwa, you will +ask her to bless us? +<a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Recovering himself with an effort.</i>) Surely, +surely. But the married women have not +blessed us yet. (<i>Taking the bride's hand and +leading her to the blanket. They seat themselves.</i>) +Come, Tiawa, have you no pine nuts +in your basket? (<i>With an effort to carry it off +jovially.</i>) What! will you have my wife dig +roots before her wedding year is out? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The married women take up their baskets +and begin the ceremony of sprinkling +the bride with nuts and seeds in token of +fruitfulness.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Warningly.</i>) Simwa! Simwa! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women leave off, huddling together, +looking fearfully at the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Getting between her and</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span>.) +What harm to you, Chisera, if the Arrow-Maker +weds where he loves? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Looking steadily at</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>.) Aye—where +he loves—(<i>Pleadingly.</i>) Simwa! Simwa! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She drops her blanket and turns away.</i>) +<a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Lifting her basket to her shoulder again.</i>) +Let us go on with the marriage. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To the company.</i>) If the Chisera knows +any reason why this marriage should not go +on, should she not say it openly? A word half +spoken breeds suspicion faster than flies at +killing time. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What talk is this of reasons? Have I not +the disposing of my daughter in marriage? +Reason enough, if I wish it so. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That which is most reasonable to men, +the gods see otherwise. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>A murmur begins in the camp, but</i> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>takes it up instantly.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He is thinking of the war with Castac. +Truly, you were not eye to eye with the gods +on that occasion, Padahoon. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Were I so sure it was of the gods, I had +not stood out so against it. +<a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Was not Simwa approved of the gods +through the mouth of the Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So you think. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is there another Arrow-Maker so skilled +between Tehachappi and Tecuya? Are any +shafts better fashioned to fly straight to the +mark? Is there any hunter knows more +surely where the herds feed, or strikes quicker +the slot of a deer? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As you think. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let be this talk of reasons. This is mere +woman's mischief, to nod and wink and to +make signs with the eyebrows. A woman +would have you think reason enough for +marrying if she liked or misliked it. Chisera, +this is no matter for the gods, but a plain +mating of man and maid. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Flashing.</i>) Since when have you talked +<a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span> +with the gods, that you think to lesson me +in their business? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Since you have been a father, to know +reasons for the bestowal of daughters. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Grunts of appreciation.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Letting her blanket slip to her breast.</i>) +Know, then, that if these are your reasons, +Rain Wind, there is no more meat in them +than in the husk of acorns. If good fortune +hangs on all Simwa's movements, it is by +reason of the medicine I make that binds +him in the favor of the Friend. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Leaning on his elbows, with the manner of +being quite at ease.</i>) You are very free with +your blessing, Chisera, if it is so; for it is +well known in the camp that Simwa, the +Arrow-Maker, does not believe in charms, +nor seek them. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Grunting in assent.</i>) Ugh! huh! +<a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Letting fall her blanket in a burst of indignation.</i>) +“Nor seek them!”—Ah! Simwa! +Simwa! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>A short pause of embarrassment and consternation +ensues. Then</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>, <i>in +a manner meant to seem impartial—</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The medicine of the Chisera is very powerful, +but one must allow a little credit to the +gods. Simwa was chosen war leader by the +trial of the seven sticks. As the gods willed, +they made the sticks to fall. Is it not so, +Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Sullenly, from her blanket.</i>) I do not know. +I did not look. (<i>Letting fall her blanket and +speaking proudly.</i>) I had persuaded the +Friend to give victory to the war leader. +What should I care for the sticks? A day +and a night I made medicine, and the sign +was sure. I said “Simwa” and the gods +confirmed it. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The Indians remain silent, but draw a +little away from</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>.) +<a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising and turning toward her.</i>) Chisera, +why should you make medicine for Simwa? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chief's daughter, do not ask. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chief's daughter I am, and wife of the war +leader. Why should you concern yourself +with his affairs? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>After a pause, with great dignity.</i>) Because +he loved me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah! Ah—ah! Ah! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Laughing.</i>) The Friend of the gods has +eaten rattleweed. Does a man love a wild +woman who goes muttering and waving her +arms, when she should be weaving and +grinding meal? Would he take a wander-thought +to his bed, and have witless children? +Sooner I had a snake in my hut to run +and tattle to the gods of me. +<a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>.) Now, if it is true that he +owes his fortune to the gods, they have +deserted him, else he would not speak so to +a jealous woman. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Looking long at the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>haggard and +unpainted, her blanket trailing, and then to the +Chief's daughter, and back again, all the eyes +of the campody following.</i>) Is there any comeliness +in a witch, that a man should desire +her? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Alarmed.</i>) Simwa, Simwa! If you have +no care for yourself, at least remember my +daughter! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) Have no care, mother. If I do +not believe she can bless, neither do you +believe that she can curse. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Mother, let be. If this be true that she +speaks, I am already cursed. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Going to his wife.</i>) What have we to do +<a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span> +with blessings or cursings? The Chisera is +unsound in her mind. I have seen her dancing +in the hills sometimes where I went to +gather eagle's feathers for my arrows, and +her madness has made a curious tale of it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I would I might believe it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With returning complacency.</i>) Do you +find it so hard to have a husband whom other +women admire? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chief and tribesmen, if it be true that +Simwa values charms so little, let him declare +what it is he keeps sewed in his quiver so +precious that he must hide it even on his +wedding day. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Murmurs. The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>in alarm, endeavors +to check</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>. <span class="smcap">Simwa</span> +<i>turns upon him with a snarl.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +<i>Kima!</i> (<i>Wildly.</i>) You cannot prove that +I had it of the Chisera! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Suddenly darting out two fingers from his</i> +<a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span> +<i>mouth, moving them rapidly in the manner of +a snake's tongue, with a hissing sound.</i>) Snake +of two tongues! Now I know you for the +man you are, braggart and liar! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Coyote whelp! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>grasps a war weapon, a stone tied +in a crotched stick, from the heap of +wedding gifts, and smites</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> +<i>to the earth, standing threateningly over +him. The others stiffen into tense attitudes, +drawing their blankets tighter, +their eyes burning bright.</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> +<i>draws the knife that hangs in a sheath +at his neck.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Putting</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>back with a hand at his +breast.</i>) Peace! Though you are made my +son by this day's work, you shall not usurp +judgment. (<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>, <i>as</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>moves +slowly back, his weapon lowered.</i>) What +charge do you make? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising on his elbow to spit blood.</i>) Thou +art a liar, if ever there was one in Sagharawite, +<a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span> +and have nothing which is not owed to +the Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Speak straight, Padahoon, or, by the +Bear, I shall let him kill you where you lie. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Three nights after the return from Tecuya, +I saw you at the Chisera's house—and +again in the rains—and at the time of +Taboose. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it so, Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is so. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Did you go there for love or profit? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>lets slip his weapon from his hand +to the ground.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa, if you were the son of my body, I +should not know which to believe. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Believe him if you like. (<i>Sullenly.</i>) If a +<a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span> +skunk walk in my trail and leave a stink +there, shall I go out of my way to deny that +it is mine? No doubt the woman is both +mad and shameless. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Murmurs of indignation.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Afraid, but furious.</i>) Then if you are +shameless, begone! Stay not to vex the marriage +of a maiden. Go! Have to do with +your gods, and leave my daughter. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Mother! Mother! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Shameless, am I, Seegooche? Then there +is one of your blood shall know a greater +shame. Great hunter does she think her +man? Aye, but she shall come to dig roots +for him when he fails of the hunt and be glad +of the offal the other women give her for +pity. For this I say to you, tribesmen of +Sagharawite, that, though I cannot curse, +yet I can take back my blessing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +All this is of no account, Chisera. No +<a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span> +doubt you can contrive against the fame of +Simwa and bespeak the gods to neglect him; +I wait to hear what proof you have that he +loved you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do not vex her, daughter, lest she turn +the gods against you also. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No matter, mother. What Simwa bears, +I can bear. What proof, Chisera? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What proof? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She turns toward</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <i>faltering. He +smiles contemptuously.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That Simwa loved you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Slowly, her eyes on</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>.) He came to +my hut—in the night—Chief's daughter +(<i>boldly</i>), even as he comes this night to yours. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Impatiently.</i>) But did he love you? +<a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He made me so believe. (<i>Looking about +and noting the lack of conviction.</i>) How else +had he held me, since last the poppies +bloomed, a lure to snare the favor of the +gods? Does he say he was not blessed? Aye, +twice blessed. (<i>She takes from her bosom the +amulet.</i>) Was it not this you gave me to +make medicine upon, to keep your lover safe +in war? Twice blessed he was; but, as I made +my blessing, so do I break it. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Drops the amulet and grinds it underfoot</i>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Moving uneasily.</i>) Ah! Ah! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And this is the proof that I speak truly. +From this day, whoever brings me arrows +shall have medicine upon them without +price, and who would have news of the passing +of the deer shall have it for the asking. +Only Simwa shall have nothing but his own +wit and the work of his hands, and by what +befalls, you shall know the truth. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +By this I know the truth! You never +loved him, or you would not now betray him. +<a name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Moving toward the trail.</i>) And you, +Bright Water, that think to lie in your husband's +arms this night, know that I have +lain there before you. And you shall not +dare to laugh as a bride laughs, lest it be to +him my voice in the dusk; and if he turns +and sighs in his sleep, you shall wonder if he +dreams of the Chisera. Long and anxiously +you shall look in the trail when he is late +from the hunt, and the men shall mock him +that he could not keep the blessing he had +got. (<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>turns despairingly and +sinks on the ground, holding her mother by the +knees and sobbing bitterly. All the Indians +draw away from</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <i>leaving him standing, +discomfited, in the middle of the camp. All look +with awe and dread at the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>. <i>She produces +a small medicine stick from under her +blanket and twirls it with menace. Going.</i>) +As for you, Arrow-Maker of Sagharawite, +though I cannot curse, yet am I the friend +of the gods, and they have regard to me. +Look well to yourself, Simwa. Look well. +</p> +<p class="curtain"> +CURTAIN<br /> +<a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span> +</p> +<h2> +<a name="chapter11" /> +ACT THIRD +</h2> +<p> +<span class="smcap">Time.</span>—<i>One year later.</i> +</p> +<p> +<span class="smcap">Scene.</span>—<i>The top of Toorape, where the tribe +has been driven by their enemies of +Tecuya. The women and children hide in +holes in the rocks. Off to the right on a +jutting boulder, against the sky, stands</i> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span>, <i>as sentinel; two or three wounded lie +about. Crouching over the fire are</i> <span class="smcap">Seegooche</span>, +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Tiawa</span>, <i>showing +in their dress and appearance the marks +of a year of distress, as do all the others as +they appear upon the scene.</i> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To them.</i>) St—st! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) Some one on the trail! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What is it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To her.</i>) Hush! +<a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Sparrow Hawk! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +News from the Fighting Men! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The gods grant it be good news! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>, <i>weary and with disordered +dress, comes clambering up the face of +the cliff.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Yavi</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Calling down in a whisper.</i>) What news? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Are the gods still against us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As they have been since the day the +Chisera took away her blessing from the +war leader. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Wailing.</i>) Ai! Ai! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Others come out of the rocks to join in the +general grief.</i>) +<a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Could you but persuade her to give it back +again. (<i>Hopefully.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If I cannot, then this is like to be the last +fight of Sagharawite! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If you cannot, then must the chief enforce +her, for since we were driven from our homes, +neither the anguish of the women nor the +hunger of the children has moved her. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I will speak with her at once. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He goes up among the rocks, and the +women huddle wretchedly together watching.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do you think she will consent? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +She cannot choose but do it. The men +have kept her supplied with venison, but she +must know that there is hunger in the camp +of the women and children. +<a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And that the Tecuyas have taken the best +of our fighting men. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But no man of hers. I have always said—but +because I am old nobody minds me—that +if there was one of her household to go +to battle, she would need no persuasion to +go before the gods. I would Simwa had given +her a child. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Aside from</i> <span class="smcap">Seegooche</span>.) Then you believe +that he was her lover? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What else? Would any but a jilted woman +sit and mope while our wickiups go up in +smoke? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I would she had a child, but not Simwa's. +One of that breed is enough. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Who has moved nearer the hut.</i>) Hush, see +the curtain! <span class="dirright">(<i>They start.</i>)</span> +<a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It was the wind. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +They say she has not made medicine since +my daughter's marriage. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Looking off to the right where the mountains +dip abruptly valleyward.</i>) And to think that +even now they must be fighting under +Toorape. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hush! Hush! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>come out +of the hut. The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>whole appearance +is of heartbreak and neglect. +She leans against the boulders at the +left, holding her blanket close, and +answers</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>sullenly.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And is this all your answer? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The trail is cold between the gods and me. +<a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Then you will not make medicine? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And would not if I could. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Have you turned renegade, Chisera, and +side with our enemies of Tecuya? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No, Padahoon, but I see that no good +comes of persuading the gods to do more for +man than his natural destiny. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You have always persuaded them to our +advantage. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What good came of having Simwa made +war leader? Had I not persuaded them to +meddle with that business, the leadership +would have fallen to you as the elder, and we +should not now be without allies in our need. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I am not sure the gods had so much to do +<a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span> +with that: but if the mischief came through +them, the gods must repair it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I will not make medicine. Send the women +away. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What shall I say to them? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +To count themselves already blessed in +having those for whom they desire blessing. +Tell them that to have loved and given the +breast is enough to salve the wounds of loss. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You are hard, Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I am jealous of their griefs. Their very +pangs I envy them. Who is there of mine +goes to this war that I should grieve for his +wounding or look for his return? (<i>She looks +bitterly toward the women who have crept from +the caves to peer from the rocks in the direction +of the fighting.</i>) Persuade me no more, Padahoon. +I will not do it. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She disappears among the rocks to the</i> +<a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span> +<i>left, and</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>turns to the women +who crowd around him anxiously.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Has she promised? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Will she help us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The Chisera will not make medicine. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rocking themselves to and fro.</i>) Ai! Ai! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it because our gifts are so small? She +should consider how hard it is to get venison +in war-time. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Her heart is so full of bitterness that there +is no room in it for the gods. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That is Simwa's doing—though he is your +son, Seegooche, I must say it—there was +no better Chisera between here and Tehachappi +until he curdled her wisdom with his +lies. +<a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah, Simwa! I spit upon his name. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women spit between their teeth with +sharp hisses.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How the Chisera hates him! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How she loves him! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Struck with this.</i>) You think so? Yet +there is not one word of the evil she said of +him a year ago that has not come to pass. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ai! Ai! On him and us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And hate would have been satisfied to +strip him of his honors, but now she lets the +whole tribe go down in the ruin of her +love. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Hopefully.</i>) Then if she loves him, perhaps +he can persuade her. +<a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As well persuade the rattlesnake not to +strike him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If the Chief should insist, she would not +dare refuse. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +There is little she would not dare. But +you can try. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let us bring the Chief. (<i>They go out.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Reappearing cautiously.</i>) Have they gone? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +To bring Rain Wind to command you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Can he command the sap to rise or bid the +deer-weed spring when there is no rain? My +power is gone from me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera, it is a grave matter to refuse service +in time of war—be advised by the word +of a friend— +<a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Has the Chisera indeed a friend? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Have I not proved— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Padahoon, when did you ever visit me for +any but your own advantage? For what else +did you stir me against Simwa, and why now +do you seek my blessing but to make good +against him the honor of which he has robbed +you? Does any one of you bring me venison +except for profit or grind my meal for love? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Seeing how little good you had of the love +of the Arrow-Maker, why should you desire +it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You spit poison like a toad, Padahoon, but +your fangs are drawn. The Arrow-Maker +never loved me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Approaching her with the manner of having +gained a point.</i>) If you have the wit to know +so much— +<a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Commanding him from her with a gesture +as she seats herself.</i>) Padahoon, there is no +more power in me than there is tang in a +wet bowstring. (<i>She rocks her head between +her hands.</i>) It is gone from me as the shadow +goes up the mountain. As the wild geese go +northward at the end of the rains, so is my +power—How shall I win it again who cannot +win the love of man?... Ah, leave me, +Padahoon, leave me! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She covers her head with her blanket.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Chief Rain Wind</span>, <i>stumbling blindly, +led by his wife and followed at a respectful +distance by the other women. He walks with +dignity, in spite of his blindness, and has on +all the insignia of rank except the war-bonnet.</i> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span> <i>has a hasty, eager manner, +ingratiating but timid.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To them.</i>) You will get nothing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I do not come asking: I command. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No, no, do not be harsh with her! Let me +<a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span> +speak, we women will understand one +another. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Putting his wife aside.</i>) Chisera. (<i>The</i> +<span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>starts at the tone of authority, but +controls herself.</i>) Friend of the gods. (<i>She +makes a movement of protest.</i>) I have that to +say to you which should be said but once, +which to say at all is shame to you. Great +powers have been given you to turn the +favor of the gods as a willow is turned in the +wind. How is it you have not turned them +when your people are in war and bad fortune? +We are driven as hunted rabbits to hide in +holes in the rocks, and our fighting men are +outnumbered; even now we do not know if +there be one left alive of them—Our tribe +shall be as a forgotten tale unless you intercede +for us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Over her shoulder.</i>) What? Is it possible +Simwa cannot bring this affair to pass without +the gods? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Breaking in eagerly.</i>) Yes, yes; the gods +are very great, there is nothing without them. +<a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Still to the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span>.) Does Simwa ask it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The chief commands it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Cringingly.</i>) No. No. Chisera, mind +him not! He is not himself, the hunger and +the loss of battle do distress him. We beg of +you, we implore you, Chisera—we will +bring gifts to you—gifts, Chisera. (<i>She +looks about despairingly for a suitable gift, +snatches a great rope of beads from the Chief's +neck and drops it in the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>lap.</i>) +Spoil of our enemies when the war is over, +and this to keep as a reminder—So—if +only you will persuade the gods to friend us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Lifting the collar and letting it fall.</i>) And +if I will not? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Still with her eyes on the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span>, <i>ignoring +Seegooche.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera, I am an old man, and I knew +your father. We had much good talk together—I +<a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span> +am very old—but I am not +blind in my judgment as I am in my eyes. +In war-time there is but one law for those +faithless to the tribal obligation. You know +it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Drawing her blanket.</i>) I know it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Dropping to the ground and beating the +earth with her palms.</i>) Do not, do not refuse +it, wise one, friend of the Friend! What has +Simwa done that you should destroy us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +<i>You ask me that, Seegooche?</i> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I know—you said—Such a small thing, +Chisera. To love you a little before he loved +my daughter. Young men do often so—and +you were very fair and no doubt beguiled +him—Ah, who could withstand you, +daughter of the gods? (<i>Wheedling.</i>) But +your punishment is heavy upon him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is it so? +<a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Thinking she has gained a point.</i>) It is +indeed as you said; he makes no more arrows, +and his luck in the hunt is gone from him. +And the men mock him. A war leader should +not be mocked, Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No more should a friend of the gods, but +Simwa mocked me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Loosing hope.</i>) He was mad, Chisera, he +had eaten rattle-weed. But my daughter did +not mock you. Think of my daughter! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When does your daughter ever think of +me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Broken and drooping.</i>) Every day she +thinks of you. When she is a-hungered, +when her man brings her nothing from the +hunt—as—you have said, Chisera. When +she digs roots with the old women and no one +prevents her for the sake of a child to be +born. +<a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>With relish.</i>) Does she dig roots? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Seegooche</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +With the barren women. Also her beauty +goes, she is so thin with the famine. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Baring her arm.</i>) I also am thin. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>From this moment some perception of the +pervasive misery of the situation enters +her mind and begins to color her speech.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hunger and sickness and war have come +into the camp because you kept not your +heart, Chisera. Yet a greater than all these +shall come upon you if you forget your tribal +obligation. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising on one knee.</i>) What obligation +have I owed, Chief Rain Wind, and not remembered +it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That which lies upon all that have power +with the Friend of the Soul of Man. Only +<a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span> +the gods can save us, and only you know +the true and acceptable road to them. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising and moving toward her hut.</i>) I am +overweary for the road; let Simwa find it. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>An arrow, with a feather and a fragment +of bark attached to it, is shot into the +camp from the direction of the fighting.</i> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>takes it up and carries it to +the</i> <span class="smcap">Chief</span>, <i>the others crowding about.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What was that? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +A message from the Fighting Men. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Read me the token. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +A vulture's feather and a bark of <i>whenonabe</i>. +Defeat and flight. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ai! Ai! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>They throw up their arms in despair.</i>) +<a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +They will not be far behind their arrows. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>All listen. A faint whoop is heard.</i> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span> <i>answers with his mouth +covered with his hands. The rest of +the women and children come out of the +rocks. Fighting Men come clambering +up the steep. They show torn clothing +and streaks of blood. The women bring +them the water-bottles as they drop upon +the ground.</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba's</span> <i>husband,</i> <span class="smcap">Pamaquash</span>, +<i>with an arrow in his side, +leaps once in air and drops dead. His +wife sinks on the ground beside him, +rocking and moaning. One breaks his +unstrung bow across his knees and +stamps the pieces in the earth. Finally +comes</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <i>his war-bonnet bedraggled.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ugh! Is it so I find the fighting men of +Sagharawite—huddled together like rabbits +when the coyotes are after them? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Scattering dust on her head.</i>) Ai! Ai! My +man, my man! +<a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Be still, you fool! Would you call up our +enemies with your noise? (<i>The wailing drops +to a moan.</i>) Put out that fire—they can +sniff smoke as far as a vulture smells carrion. +(<span class="smcap">Choco</span> <i>stamps out the fire.</i>) You, Choco, do +you show your face to me, misgotten whelp +of a coyote! It was you who led the fleeing. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Sullenly.</i>) It was Tavwots. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +By the Bear, you shall have a wound for +that, though you ran too fast to have one in +battle. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>He draws the obsidian knife at his belt.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Fools! (<i>He strikes up</i> <span class="smcap">Tavwots'</span> <i>arm; +another Indian jerks</i> <span class="smcap">Choco</span> <i>by the ankles +causing him to sit down.</i>) Have you killed so +many in battle, Tavwots, that you can afford +to lose us a fighting man? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The men subside, exhausted.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Peace! Though I am too old for battle, +<a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span> +yet am I master in the camp. What has +happened? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We have shown the Tecuyas what running +is like. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The gods send we have run fast enough to +throw them off the trail, else they will attack +before morning. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Consternation among the women.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To them.</i>) <i>Kima!</i> (<i>Their grief falls off to a +whimper. To</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>.) Where met you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Under Waban where they stayed to cook +venison they had killed. We had every way +the advantage— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As much as rabbits when they have met +with coyotes. They were three to one of us. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Ignoring him with an effort.</i>) We were +between them and cover—we were driving +<a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span> +them toward Waban—but they sent one +out against us armed—Chief and father, +how do you think he was armed who put the +sons of the Bear to flight? With a stick—a +painted stick with feathers on it. (<i>Angry and +protesting murmurs.</i>) An old man with a +stick, Rain Wind, and they ran before him +like squaws who deserve a beating! Faugh! <span class="dirright">(<i>Native movement of disgust.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising on his elbow.</i>) You shall be sicker, +Simwa, when you have eaten your words. +That old man was Tibu, the medicine man +of the Tecuyas. I knew him. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Then it was you, Tavwots, who broke and +ran? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He came upon us with charms and spells. +He had the gods on his side. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Our hearts were turned to water because +of his evil medicine. +<a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Are not the gods of Sagharawite stronger +than the gods of the Tecuyas? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Not when we have one to lead us who despises +their blessings. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Well, I believe in the medicine of Tibu. +He has made old women of you. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Think no more of that. Let us consider +what is to be done. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Shadows of vultures appear on the rocks, +attracted by the dead.</i> <span class="smcap">Wacoba</span> <i>springs +up from casting dust upon her head to +flap them away with her blanket, which +she spreads over the body of her husband.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>As he motions to the men to move the body +near the shelter.</i>) Yes, it is time to take +counsel when the birds of the air betray us +to our enemies. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women gather together about the dead.</i> +<a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span> +<i>One of them takes the place of the sentry +who comes to Council. The men collect +near the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera's</span> <i>hut with the exception +of</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <i>who remains seated, +re-stringing his bow.</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> +<i>goes to him.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa, how long will you let your pride +destroy us? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is that a word for a man's wife? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is a true one. Do we not know, you and +I, that it is but pride that makes you stand +out against the friend of the gods? Look at +me, Simwa, is it not proved on my body that +she spoke truly when she said that you +throve only by her blessing? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Can you bear to admit so much? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Bear? What have I not borne? Have I +complained when I dig roots? Have I quivered +<a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span> +when I was mocked? Has there been +any sign of shame on my face for all the +scorne on theirs? Have I said, “Give me +children,” when the nursing mothers pitied +me? Oh, I have borne, I have borne; but +this I cannot bear. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What is now so hard? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +To know that you and I know the truth +and that you will see the tribe wiped out before +you will admit it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The truth? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That you were the Chisera's lover for the +sake of what she could do for you, and your +denial left her no way to prove it except by +taking away the help of the gods from us all. +Is not that the truth? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Would you have me ashamed before all +men? +<a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +When have I not been ashamed since I +married you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let her alone! They will kill her if she refuses +to make medicine and then we shall be +rid of her. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And you would permit that? (<i>He shifts +uneasily under her gaze.</i>) Simwa—(<i>With +profound entreaty.</i>) Simwa! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What is the witch to me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +My sister, I think, for she has loved you +even as I have, to my sorrow. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She turns away from him meditating +some deep purpose, and from this time +on the progress of that purpose in her +mind is evident in her bearing toward +her husband.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Coming forward.</i>) Let the Council sit. +<a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span> +(<i>They sit as in</i> <span class="smcap">Act I</span>.) Simwa, as war leader, +what plan have you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It wants not plans so much as men to do +them. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Whatever is in any man's mind for the +good of the tribe, let it be delivered. Observe +not the rule of the elders, but speak at once. +(<i>A moment, during which black looks are cast +at</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>.) Will no one speak? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chief and tribesmen, once I gave counsel +and you despised it— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No more of that. Give counsel now. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is the same counsel, but time has not +mended the occasion. Penned here on the +edge of the precipice we can but starve. We +must break through our enemies and strike +at their women and their stores. +<a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Every trail is watched. Not so much as a +weasel can go in and out from Toorape and +they not know it. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +With so many watchers, then, they cannot +have much of a fighting force at any point. In +an hour it will be dark; we shall go down by +Deer Leap with the women and children, +and stay not for fighting, but, fleeing for our +lives, break through to their villages— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But if they move on us to-night? If the +vultures have already betrayed us—even +now they may be within earshot? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If they come up with us before we reach +Deer Leap it is to run into the wolf's mouth. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I have thought of that. To-night they expect +us to mourn our dead and go before our +gods— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +So should we. +<a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +That they may think so, leave one behind +to sound the medicine drum throughout the +night. So they shall fear to attack and expect +an easier victory in the morning when +we are exhausted with dancing to the gods. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But he that stays, what shall become of +him— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +He shall die as becomes him (<i>rising</i>)—as +becomes a chief of his people. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Murmurs of consternation and then silence.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But another—whose counsels we prize +less— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +It is the tribal use. None else too blind for +the trail and too feeble for the sortie (<i>with +grim humor</i>)—but I can drum. <span class="dirright">(<i>Solemn grunts of approval.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +If we win through Deer Leap, we can +make terms for you. Tribesmen, what say +you? <span class="dirright">(<i>A pause.</i>)</span> +<a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What I say is for myself only; but I go not +out against the Tecuyas again unless the +Chisera has blessed the going. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Council</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Good counsel; good counsel! He has it! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +There are two or three things to the making +of fighting men, Tavwots, beside the +blessing of women. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Two or three things, Simwa, that I think +you have not: honor to win advantage and +wit to keep what you have got. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +As for me, I am with Tavwots; but (<i>he +looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>)—the gods have no favors +for unbelievers. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Nor have we, by the Bear! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Springing up.</i>) Nor have we! No; by the +<a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span> +Bear! Out with him! (<i>They hustle</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>. +<i>One snatches off the war-bonnet, another the +collar of bears' claws. Even the women strike +dust upon him with their feet in an excess of +contempt.</i>) +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Peace, tribesmen! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Perhaps we shall have peace when we have +a leader against whom neither the gods nor +women have a spite. Tribesmen, who shall +lead the going out but he who planned it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hi! Hi! Padahoon! Padahoon! (<i>They +fling the collar about his neck.</i> <span class="smcap">Tavwots</span> <i>hands +him the bonnet.</i>) Hi! Hi! The Sparrow +Hawk. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do not count on me too much with the +Chisera; all this time I have kept in camp +with my wound I have reasoned with her, +but still she refuses me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +There shall be an end to that— +<a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +How then—? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Who denies service to the tribe in extremity +must be dealt with as an enemy. <span class="dirright">(<i>Consternation.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Choco</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +But a friend of the gods— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let the gods save her— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +There are times when the gods must be +content to stand still and see what men will +do. Who serves not us, serves our enemies. +It is the law. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Reluctantly.</i>) It is the law— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Death or good medicine—Speak, tribesmen! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Above the silence of the Council is heard +the deep, excited breathing of the women.</i>) +<a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Council</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>One after another.</i>) Death. Death. Death +or good medicine. It is the law. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>.) Bid her come. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>At the hut.</i>) Chisera, come to Council! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Issuing, wrapped in her blanket.</i>) Who +sends for me? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Death is hot upon our trail. Stay him +with your spells. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Men and Women</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Good medicine, Chisera, good medicine! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Have you not a war leader— +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She stops, noticing the bonnet on</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>—<i>looks +from him to</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>.) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Who invites your blessing, Chisera! +<a name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Make spells for thy people! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What have my people done for me that I +should weary myself to make medicine for +them? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Are you not respected above all women of +the campody? Even in war-time— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah—respect! What have I to do with +respect? Am I not as other women that men +should desire me? Are my breasts less fair +that there should never be milk in them? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We honor you after the use of medicine +men. What more would you have? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The dole of women. Love and sorrow and +housekeeping; a husband to give me children, +even though he beat me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Love you have given, and sorrow you have +<a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span> +got. Shame and defeat are your children. +So it is always when power falls upon women. +The word has passed in Council, Chisera; +will you repair this damage, or will you die +for it? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>As her eye travels the circle of the camp.</i>) +I do not find the taste of life so sweet that I +should turn it twice upon my tongue; but—(<i>Her +gaze halts on</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span>, <i>and all the attention +of the camp seems to hang a moment in suspense +as</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>ignores her.</i>) Do I die, then? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let Simwa die! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Ah—ah—! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +What, old fox, are you out of cover at last? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +By whom trouble came into the camp, let +it depart. Who prevented the wisdom of the +gods at the throwing of the sacred sticks? +By whose counsel were our allies of Castac +destroyed? Who hardened the Chisera's +heart so that she kept not our foes from us? +<a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa! Simwa! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Padahoon</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Sons of the Bear, do you think to win +favor of the gods when you have one who +mocks them in your midst? Would you see +the backs of the Tecuyas? Would you win +to your homes again? Let Simwa die! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Indians</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Aye, aye. Let Simwa die! A judgment! +A judgment! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Aside to his wife.</i>) My quiver, hand me +my quiver! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa, as thou art a son to me, I fear the +charge is just. But do you entreat the Chisera +to go before the gods for us, then will +this evil pass. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Rising.</i>) And if I choose to have it said +that when the tribesmen of Sagharawite +took a woman to Council, only Simwa stood +out against it? +<a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Then must I give judgment. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Folding his arms.</i>) It shall not be said of +me that I have borne to take my life of a +woman. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Whether you can bear it or not, it shall be +said of you, for though I am unhappy, I am +still the Chisera, and I declare unto you +that neither the life nor the death of a +broken man can avail to turn the gods. But +you, Chief Rain Wind, and you tribesmen of +Sagharawite,—if you must visit the loss of +my power, let it be on your own heads, for +you only are blameworthy. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +This is no time for riddles, Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +I mean none. What did Simwa other to +me than the occasion allowed him? Was it +his fault that he found me alone and love-hungry? +<a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span> +Was it he who ordered that I +should live apart where no woman could +see how my heart went and give me counsel? +Was it any fault but yours—you that kept +me far from your huts lest I should see and +carry word to the gods how unworthy you +were! You that feared yourselves lessened +when I walked among you with my power—Ai! +Ai! Did you think at all what became +of the woman so long as you had my medicine +to help you? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Creeping forward.</i>) So I said, so I said +from the beginning. She was taught to be a +Chisera, but she was born a woman! <span class="dirright">(<i>Excitement among the women.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Your words are sharp, Chisera. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +The fact is sharper. It has eaten through +my bosom. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +We meant the best—we judged you companioned +by the gods. +<a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Did ever a woman serve them the less because +she had dealt with a man? Nay, all +the power of woman comes from loving and +being loved, and now the bitterest of all my +loss is to know that I have never had it. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She draws up her blanket.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +And not you only— +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +You—? +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She turns away confounded.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Wife—wife—if she finds the gods again, +they will surely kill me. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Let them. Though I am your wife, I am +the Chief's daughter, and the tribe is still +something to me. I will save them if I can. +Chisera— +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>listens and turns slowly.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Chief</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Is that my daughter? +<a name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tavwots</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Hush! Perhaps she will move her! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Do you think yourself aggrieved so much, +Chisera? Come, I will match sorrow with +you, I and all these (<i>the women surge forward</i>), +and the stakes shall be the people. Here is +my pride that I throw down, in my bride +year to know my husband an impostor. +Have you any sorrow to match with that? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Wacoba</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Since you wish a man so much, Chisera, +here is mine whom the vultures seek. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women part to show the dead man +stark in his blanket.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Haiwai</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Would you have a child at your breast, +Chisera, here is mine, for my milk is dried +with hunger. +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She holds up her swaddled child which</i> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> <i>takes and holds toward +the</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span>, <i>who stands confused, for +the first time acutely aware of their +misery.</i>) +<a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Measuring the effect of her words.</i>) Chisera, +my breast is as fruitless as yours—but +you ... you have ... good medicine. +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tiawa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Lay hold on the gods, Chisera, these are +ills from which man cannot save us! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>throws out her hands to signify +the loss of her power, her blanket +slips to the ground and she covers her +face with her hands.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Gone—gone! It is gone from me! +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Signing to the women to hide the blanket.</i>) +</p> +<p> +By dancing you shall bring it back again—for +the sake of the women and children—dance, +Chisera! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Her voice has a kindling sound, and the +women echo it with a breath.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Oh, I have danced until the earth under +me is beaten to dust, and my heart is as dry +as the dust, and all my songs have fallen +<a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span> +to the ground. (<i>She begins to walk up and +down excitedly.</i>) With what cry shall I call +on the gods, now my songs are departed? <span class="dirright">(<i>She begins to chant.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="poem"> +And my heart is emptied of all<br /> +But the grief of women.<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>The women watch her breathlessly; as +she gradually swings into the dance, +they seem to urge her with the stress of +their anxiety.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="poem"> +All the anguish of women,<br /> +It smells to the gods<br /> +As the dead after battle,<br /> +It sounds in my heart<br /> +As the hollow drums calling to battle,<br /> +And the gods come quickly.<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>As she falters the tribe surges forward.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Tribe</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Dance, Chisera, dance! +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>She tries again and no strength comes—the +men hold up their hands, palms +outward, in the sign of prayer. The +drum begins hollowly.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="poem"> +Come, O my power,<br /> +Indwelling spirit!<br /> +<a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span> +It is I that call.<br /> +Childless, unmated—<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>Drums and rattles are brought out, at +first cautiously, lest she take alarm +and be turned from her purpose, but as +the fervor of her dancing increases, with +increased confidence.</i> <span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>remains +seated at one side, watching her, his +foot touching his quiver.</i> <span class="smcap">Padahoon</span>, +<i>who has moved over near him, observes +him narrowly in the interval of dancing.</i> +<span class="smcap">Chisera</span> <i>sings.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="poem"> +Nay, I shall mate with the gods,<br /> +And the tribesmen shall be my children.<br /> +Rise up in me, O, my power,<br /> +On the wings of eagles!<br /> +Return on me as the rain<br /> +The earth renewing,<br /> +Make my heart fruitful<br /> +To nourish my children.<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>is seen to strip the magic arrow +from his quiver.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Simwa, Simwa, what do you do? +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Simwa</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +No more than the gods will do to me if +they hear her. +<a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p class="poem"> +This is my song that I make,<br /> +I, the Chisera,<br /> +The song of the mateless woman:<br /> +None holdeth my hand but the Friend,<br /> +In the silence, in the secret places<br /> +We shall beget great deeds between us!<br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>As she rises on the last movement of the +dance toward ecstasy, the excitement +rises with her, expressing itself in short, +irrepressible yelps, at the highest point +of which a scream from</i> <span class="smcap">Bright Water</span> +<i>arrests the dancers.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">Bright Water</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +Chisera, the arrow, the black arrow! <span class="dirright">(<span class="smcap">Simwa</span> <i>shoots.</i>)</span> +</p> +<p class="nowrap"> +<span class="smcap">The Chisera</span><br /> +</p> +<p> +(<i>Dying.</i>) Ah, Simwa! <span class="dirright">(<i>Dies.</i>)</span> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> +(<i>In the distance is heard the shout of the +approaching Tecuyas.</i>) +</p> +</blockquote> +<p class="curtain"> +CURTAIN<br /> +<a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span> +</p> +<h2> +GLOSSARY OF +INDIAN WORDS AND PHRASES<br /> +THE DANCES<br /> +COSTUMES +<a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span> +</h2> +<h3> +<a name="chapter12" /> +GLOSSARY OF INDIAN WORDS AND +PHRASES +</h3> +<p> +The names and phrases used in <i>The Arrow-Maker</i> +were chosen from the culture area comprising +the central valleys of California, from +tribes belonging to or affiliated with the Paiute +group. Exact definitions could not always be +ascertained and frequently the meaning given +by different villages differed widely. Whenever +possible the nomenclature of the locality in which +the incident occurred is preferred. +</p> +<p> +<i>Choco.</i> “Fatty”; a nickname of doubtful origin, possibly +from the Spanish <i>Chopo</i>. +</p> +<p> +<i>Pamaquash.</i> “Very tall”; the Paiute equivalent of +Longfellow. +</p> +<p> +<i>Castac.</i> “Place of Springs”; a small valley in the +southerly Sierra, from which the inhabitants take +their name. +</p> +<p> +<i>Yavi.</i> A common given name, meaning unknown. +</p> +<p> +<i>Tavwots.</i> “Mighty Hunter”; a name given to the +rabbit in Paiute lore. +</p> +<p> +<i>Seegooche.</i> “Woman who gives good things to eat.” +Lady Bountiful. +</p> +<p> +<i>Tiawa.</i> A familiar title frequently given to old women, +like “Grannie.” +</p> +<p> +<i>Wacoba.</i> “Flower of the Oak”; oak tassel, also the +plume of the quail. +</p> +<p> +<i>Chisera.</i> Medicine Woman; witch. (See last chapter +<a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span> +of <i>The Flock</i> for account of the original Medicine +Woman from whom the character was drawn.) +</p> +<p> +<i>Tuiyo.</i> “Shining”; very bright. +</p> +<p> +<i>Pioke.</i> “Dew drop.” +</p> +<p> +<i>Simwa.</i> Applied in humorous sense, meaning a +“swell.” +</p> +<p> +<i>Padahoon.</i> The Sparrow Hawk. +</p> +<p> +<i>Tecuya.</i> Oak thicket, <i>encinal</i>. +</p> +<p> +<i>Pahrump.</i> Corn water. A place where there is water +enough to grow a crop of corn. +</p> +<p> +<i>Sagharawite.</i> “Place of the mush that was afraid.” +An Indian village named from the quaking, gelatinous +mush of acorn meal. +</p> +<p> +<i>Paiute.</i> More properly “Pah Ute”: the Utes who +live by running water as distinguished from the +Utes of the Great Basin; one of the interior tribes of +the Pacific Coast. +</p> +<p> +“Friend of the Soul of Man.” The Great Spirit; the +Holy Ghost. +</p> +<p> +<i>Toorape.</i> “Captain”; chief; a name given to one of the +peaks of the Sierras. +</p> +<p> +“The Sacred Sticks.” A number of small sticks with +peculiar markings. Divination was practiced by +throwing them on the ground and interpreting the +pattern in which they fell. +</p> +<p> +<i>Haiwai.</i> “The dove.” +</p> +<p> +<i>Winnedumah.</i> “Standing Rock”; a legendary hero. +</p> +<p> +<i>Tinnemaha.</i> Probably “Medicine Water.” Mineral +spring. Brother of the hero in the legend of Winnedumah. +</p> +<p> +“Eaten meadowlarks' tongues.” Said of one nimble +of wit. With the idea that like cures like, Indians +were accustomed to feed backward or defective +children with associated parts of animals. +<a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span> +</p> +<p> +<i>Whenonabe.</i> Bitter brush; a decoction of the bark +producing colic and griping; a symbol of disaster. +</p> +<p> +“Rattle-weed.” <i>Astragalus</i>; produces madness when +eaten. +</p> +<p> +“Toyon.” California Christmas Berry. +</p> +<p> +“Snake-in-the-grass ... tattle to the gods.” Snakes +are believed to be the messengers and familiars of +the gods; therefore the Paiutes tell no important +matter in the summer when they are about. +</p> +<p> +“To dig roots before her wedding year is out.” A +curse equivalent to barrenness. The work of digging +roots was not performed by expectant mothers. +</p> +<p> +“Wickiup.” A wattled hut of brush, made by planting +willow poles about a pit four or five feet deep and +six to eight feet in diameter. The poles were then +drawn over in a dome and thatched with reeds or +brush. +</p> +<p> +“Campody.” An Indian village; from the Spanish +<i>campo</i>. +</p> +<p> +<i>Barranca.</i> A bank, the abrupt face of a <i>mesa</i>. From +the Spanish. +<a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span> +</p> +<h3> +<a name="chapter13" /> +THE DANCES +</h3> +<p> +All tribal or emotional occasions among Indians +are invariably accompanied by singing +and dancing. These are frequently derived from +the movements of animals and are both pantomimic +and symbolic. +</p> +<p> +The object of the medicine dance is to work +up the dancer to a state of trance, in which he +receives a revelation in regard to the matter +under consideration. +</p> +<p> +Some of these medicine dances are ritualistic +in character and must be performed with great +strictness, but in the case of the Chisera the dance +is assumed to be made up of various dance elements +expressing the emotion of the moment, +combined by individual taste and skill. +</p> +<p> +Power is supposed to descend upon the dancer +as he proceeds. Sometimes the dance lasts for +hours, and even for days before the proper +trance condition is attained. Even then the revelation +may not come until a second or third +climax has been reached. +</p> +<p> +The blanket dance is common throughout the +Southwest, and possibly elsewhere. It is accompanied +by a song which says, in effect, “How +lovely it will be when you and I have but one +blanket.” By the young people it is not taken +any more seriously than “drop the handkerchief” +and other courtship games. +<a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span> +</p> +<h3> +<a name="chapter14" /> +COSTUMES +</h3> +<p> +While the scene of this play is laid among the +Paiute peoples, there is nothing which makes it +absolutely unlikely among any of the hunting +tribes. +</p> +<p> +Considerable latitude is therefore permissible +in costume and accessories. The only indispensable +thing is that all these should be kept within +a given culture area. Every article of Indian use +or apparel is determined by some condition of +living, and it is a mistake to mix costumes from +various tribes. +</p> +<p> +Concessions must be made to the objections +of the modern audience to the state of nudity +which would be natural to the time in which the +story is laid. But even making allowance for +this, the tendency is always to overdo, to have +too many beads and fringes and war-bonnets. +No more than his white brother did the Indian +wear all his best clothes every day. +</p> +<p> +The blanket is the most considerable item of +Indian equipment. At once by its quality, its +color, and its pattern it announces something of +the wearer's rank and condition. +</p> +<p> +The way in which it is worn betrays the state +of his mind as does no other garment. It is +drawn up, shrugged off, swung from one shoulder, +<a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span> +or completely shrouds the figure according as his +mood runs, or it is folded neatly about the body +to get it out of the way of his arms when he has +need of them. Blankets would be worn to Council, +but not going to battle. They would be worn +by young and modest women on public occasions, +but by old women only for warmth and protection. +They are also worn as an advertisement of +the desire for privacy. +</p> +<p> +When an Indian is seen completely shrouded +in his blanket, standing or sitting a little apart +from the camp, he either has a grouch or he is +praying. In either case it is not good manners to +interrupt him. +</p> +<p> +As far as possible the use of the blanket is indicated +in the text. Always it may be safely +taken as an indication of the wearer's attitude +toward whatever is going on about him. +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Arrow-Maker, by Mary Austin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARROW-MAKER *** + +***** This file should be named 27792-h.htm or 27792-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/7/9/27792/ + +Produced by Michael Roe and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> |