The Acorn-Planter, Jack London [free ebook reader .txt] 📗

/> Heard the Sun Man and his Sun Men
Sing their death-song here among us
Ere they died beneath our arrows,
War Chief's arrows sharp and feathered--

{War Chief}
(Interrupting braggartly.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

{Old Man}
(Producing cloth.)
And the Sun Man and his Sun Men
Wore nor hair nor hide nor birdskin.
Cloth they wore from beaten grasses
Woven like our willow baskets,
Willow-woven acorn baskets
Women make in acorn season.

(Old Man hands piece of cloth to Red
Cloud.)

{Red Cloud}
(Admiring cloth.)
The Sun Man was an acorn-planter, and we
killed the Sun Man. We were not kind. We
made a blood-debt. Blood-debts are not good.

{Shaman}
The Sun Man lied. His brothers did not come
after. There is no blood-debt when there is no
one to make us pay.

{Red Cloud}
He who plants acorns reaps food, and food is
life. He who sows war reaps war, and war is death.

{People}
(Encouraged by Shaman and War Chief
to drown out Red Cloud's voice.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man and his Sun Men are dead!

{Red Cloud}
(Shaking his head.)
His brothers of the Sun are coming after.
I have reports.

(Red Cloud beckons one after another of
the young hunters to speak)

{First Hunter}
To the south, not far, I wandered and lived
with the Petaluma. With my eyes I did not
see, but it was told me by those whose eyes had
seen, that still to the south, not far, were many
Sun Men--war chiefs who carry the thunder in
their hands; cloth-makers and weavers of cloth
like to that in Red Cloud's hand; acorn-planters
who plant all manner of strange seeds that ripen
to rich harvests of food that is good. And there
had been trouble. The Petaluma had killed
Sun Men, and many Petaluma had the Sun Men
killed.

{Second Hunter}
To the east, not far, I wandered and lived with
the Solano. With my own eyes I did not see,
but it was told me by those whose eyes had seen,
that still to the east, not far, and just beyond the
lands of the Tule tribes, were many Sun Men--
war chiefs and cloth-makers and acorn-planters.
And there had been trouble. The Solano had
killed Sun Men, and many Solano had the Sun Men killed.

{Third Hunter}
To the north, and far, I wandered and lived
with the Klamath. With my own eyes I did
not see, but it was told me by those whose eyes
had seen, that still to the north, and far, were
many Sun Men--war chiefs and cloth-makers
and acorn-planters. And there had been trouble.
The Klamath had killed Sun Men, and many
Klamath had the Sun Men killed.

{Fourth Hunter}
To the west, not far, three days gone I
wandered, where, from the mountain, I looked
down upon the great sea. With my own eyes
I saw. It was like a great bird that swam upon
the water. It had great wings like to our great
trees here. And on its back I saw men, many
men, and they were Sun Men. With my own
eyes I saw.

{Red Cloud}
We shall be kind to the Sun Men when they
come among us.

{War Chief}
(Dancing stiff-legged.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Let the Sun Men come!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
We will kill the Sun Men when they come!

{People}
(As they join in the war dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Let the Sun Men come!
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
We will kill the Sun Men when they come.

(The dance grows wilder, the Shaman and
War Chief encouraging it, while Red
Cloud and Dew-Woman stand sadly at
a distance.)

(Rifle shots ring out from every side. Up
the hillside appear Sun Men firing rifles.
The Nishinam reel to death from their
dancing.)

(Red Cloud shields Dew-Woman with
one arm about her, and with the other arm
makes the peace-sign)

(The massacre is complete, Dew-Woman
and Red Cloud being the last to fall.
Red Cloud, wounded, the sole survivor,
rests on his elbow and watches the Sun
Men assemble about their leader)

(The Sun Men are the type of pioneer
Americans who, even before the discovery
of gold, were already drifting across the
Sierras and down into Oregon and
California with their oxen and great wagons.
With here and there a Rocky Mountain
trapper or a buckskin-clad scout of the
Kit Carson type, in the main they are
backwoods farmers. All carry the long
rifle of the period.)

(The Sun Man is buckskin-clad, with long
blond hair sweeping his shoulders.)

{Sun Men}
(Led by Sun Man.)
We crossed the Western Ocean
Three hundred years ago,
We cleared New England's forests
Three hundred years ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
We cleared New England's forests
Three hundred years ago.

We climbed the Alleghanies
Two hundred years ago,
We reached the Susquehanna
Two hundred years ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
We reached the Susquehanna
Two hundred years ago.

We crossed the Mississippi
One hundred years ago,
And glimpsed the Rocky Mountains
One hundred years ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And glimpsed the Rocky Mountains
One hundred years ago.

We passed the Rocky Mountains
A year or so ago,
And crossed the salty deserts
A year or so ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And crossed the salty deserts
A year or so ago.

We topped the high Sierras
But a few days ago,
And saw great California
But a few days ago.
Blow high, blow low,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And saw great California
But a few days ago.

We crossed Sonoma's mountains
An hour or so ago,
And found this mighty forest
An hour or so ago.
Blow high, blow low,