The Acorn-Planter by Jack London (epub read online books .TXT) 📖

Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.

{Sun Man}
Givers of law, our brothers,
This is the law they say:
Who takes the life of a brother
Ten of the slayers shall pay.

{Sun Men}
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.

{Sun Man}
Our brothers will come after
By the courses that we lay;
Many and strong our brothers,
Masters of life are they.

{Sun Men}
Our brothers will come after
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.

{Sun Man}
Plowers of land, our brothers,
Of the hills and pleasant leas;
Under the sun our brothers
With their keels will plow the seas.

{Sun Men}
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.

{Sun Man}
Mighty men are our brothers,
Quick to forgive and to wrath,
Sailing the seas, our brothers
Will follow us on our path.

{Sun Men}
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.

(At signal from War Chief the arrows
are discharged, and repeatedly
discharged. The Sun Men fall. The War
Chief himself kills the Sun Man.)

(In what follows, Red Cloud and Dew-
Woman stand aside, taking no part.
Red Cloud is depressed, and at the
same time is overcome with the wonder
of the knife which he still holds.)

{War Chief}
(Brandishing musket and drifting stiff-
legged, as he sings, into the beginning
of a war dance of victory.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I have slain the Sun Man!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I hold his thunder in my hand!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Greatest of War Chiefs am I!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I have slain the Sun Man!

(The dance grows wilder.)

(After a time the hillside begins to darken)

{Dew-Woman}
(Pointing to the moon entering eclipse)
Lo! The Wolf of Darkness eats the Moon!

(In consternation the dance is broken off
for the moment)

{Shaman}
(Reassuringly)
It is a sign.
The Sun Man is dead.

{War Chief}
(Recovering courage and resuming dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead!

{People}
(Resuming dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead!

(As darkness increases the dance grows
into a saturnalia, until complete darkness
settles down and hides the hillside.)


ACT II

(A hundred years have passed, when the
hillside and the Nishinam in their
temporary camp are revealed. The spring
is flowing, and Women are filling gourds
with water. Red Cloud and Dew-
Woman stand apart from their people.)

{Shaman}
(Pointing.)
There is a sign.
The spring lives.
The water flows from the spring
And all is well with the Nishinam.

{People}
There is a sign.
The spring lives.
The water flows from the spring.

{War Chief}
(Boastingly.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
All is well with the Nishinam.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
It is I who have made all well with the Nishinam.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

I led our young men against the Napa.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
We left no man living of the camp.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

{Shaman}
Great is our War Chief!
Good is war!
No more will the Napa hunt our meat.
No more will the Napa pick our berries.
No more will the Napa catch our fish.

{People}
No more will the Napa hunt our meat.
No more will the Napa pick our berries.
No more will the Napa catch our fish.

{War Chief}
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The War Chiefs before me made all well with
the Nishinam.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The War Chief of long ago slew the Sun Man.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man said his brothers would come after.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man lied.

{People}
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man lied.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man lied.

{Shaman}
(Derisively.)
Red Cloud is sick. He lives in dreams. Ever
he dreams of the wonders of the Sun Man.

{Red Cloud}
The Sun Man was strong. The Sun Man was
a life-maker. The Sun Man planted acorns,
and cut quickly with a knife not of bone nor
stone, and of grasses and hides made cunning
cloth that is better than all grasses and hides.
--Old Man, where is the cunning cloth that is
better than all grasses and hides?

{Old Man}
(Fumbling in his skin pouch for the doth.)
In the many moons aforetime,
Hundred moons and many hundred,
When the old man was the young man,
When the young man was the youngling,
Dragging branches for the campfire,
Stealing suet from the bear-meat,
Cause of trouble to his mother,
Came the Sun Man in the night-time.
I alone of all the Nishinam
Live to-day to tell the story;
I alone of all the Nishinam
Saw the Sun Man come among us,