The Acorn-Planter Part 8

{Sun Man} Call me White Man. Though in truth we follow the sun. All our lives have we followed the sunset sun, as our fathers followed it before us.

{Red Cloud} And you slay us with the thunder in your hand.

You slay us because we slew your brothers.

{Sun Man} _(Nodding to Red Cloud and addressing his own followers)_ You see, it was no mistake. He confesses it.

Other white men have they slain.

{Red Cloud} There will come a day when men will not slay men and when all men will be brothers. And in that day all men will plant acorns.

{Sun Man} You speak well, brother.

{Red Cloud} Ever was I for peace, but in war I did not command.

Ever I sought the secrets of the growing things, the times and seasons for planting. Ever I planted acorns, making two black oak trees grow where one grew before. And now all is ended. Oh my black oak acorns! My black oak acorns! Who will plant them now?

{Sun Man} Be of good cheer. We, too, are planters.

Rich is your land here. Not from poor soil can such trees sprout heavenward. We will plant many seeds and grow mighty harvests.

{Red Cloud} I planted the short acorns in the valley. I planted the long acorns in the valley. I made food for life.

{Sun Man} You planted well, brother, but not well enough.

It is for that reason that you pa.s.s. Your fat valley grows food but for a handful of men. We shall plant your fat valley and grow food for ten thousand men.

{Red Cloud} Ever I counseled peace and planting.

{Sun Man} Some day all men will counsel peace. No man will slay his fellow. All men will plant.

{Red Cloud} But before that day you will slay, as you have this day slain us?

{Sun Man} You killed our brothers first. Blood-debts must be paid. It is man's way upon the earth. But more, O brother! We follow the sunset sun, and the way before us is red with war. The way behind us is white with peace. Ever, before us, we make room for life. Ever we slay the squalling crawling things of the wild. Ever we clear the land and destroy the weeds that block the way of life for the seeds we plant. We are many, and many are our brothers that come after along the way of peace we blaze. Where you make two black oaks grow in the place of one, we make an hundred. And where we make one grow, our brothers who come after make an hundred hundred.

{Red Cloud} Truly are you the Sun Man. We knew about you of old time. Our old men knew and sang of you:

White and s.h.i.+ning was the Sun Man, Blue his eyes were as the sky-blue, Bright his hair was as dry gra.s.s is, Warm his eyes were as the sun is, Fruit and flower were in his glances, All he looked on grew and sprouted, Where his glance fell gra.s.ses seeded, Where his feet fell sprang upstarting Buckeye woods and hazel thickets, Berry bushes, manzanita, Till his pathway was a garden, Flowing after like a river Laughing into bud and blossom.

SONG OF THE PIONEERS

{Sun Men} Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze.

Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands; In place of war's alarums, peaceful days; Above the warrior's grave the golden grain Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

{Sun Man} We cleared New England's flinty slopes and plowed Her rocky fields to fairness in the sun, But fared we westward always for we sought A land of golden richness and we knew The land was waiting on the sunset trail.

Where we found forest we left fertile fields, We bridled rivers wild to grind our corn, The deer-paths turned to roadways at our heels, Our axes felled the trees that bridged the streams, And fenced the meadow pastures for our kine.

{Sun Men} Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze; Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands; In place of war's alarums, peaceful days; Above the warrior's grave the golden grain Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

{Sun Man} Beyond the Mississippi still we fared, And rested weary by the River Platte Until the young gra.s.s velveted the Plains, Then yoked again our oxen to the trail That ever led us west to farthest west.

Our women toiled beside us, and our young, And helped to break the soil and plant the corn, And fought beside us in the battle front To fight of arrow, whine of bullet, when We chained our circled wagons wheel to wheel.

{Sun Men} Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze; Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers hands; In place of war's alarums, peaceful days; Above the warrior's grave the golden grain Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

{Sun Man} The rivers sank beneath the desert sand, The tall pines dwarfed to sage-brush, and the gra.s.s Grew spa.r.s.e and bitter in the alkali, But fared we always toward the setting sun.

Our oxen famished till the last one died And our great wagons rested in the snow.

We climbed the high Sierras and looked down From winter bleak upon the land we sought, A sunny land, a rich and fruitful land, The warm and golden California land.

{Sun Men} Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze; Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands; In place of war's alarums, peaceful days; Above the warrior's grave the golden grain Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

_(The hillside begins to darken.)_

{Red Cloud} _(Faintly.)_

The darkness is upon me. You are acorn- planters. You are my brothers. The darkness is upon me and I pa.s.s.

{Sun Men} _(As total darkness descends.)_ Our brothers follow on the trail we blaze; Where howled the wolf and ached the naked plain Spring bounteous harvests at our brothers' hands; In place of war's alarums, peaceful days; Above the warrior's grave the golden grain Turns deserts grim and stark to laughing lands.

EPILOGUE

{Red Cloud} Good tidings! Good tidings To the sons of men!

Good tidings! Good tidings!

War is dead!

_(Light begins to suffuse the hillside, revealing Red Cloud far up the hillside in a commanding position on an out-jut of rock.)_ Lo, the New Day dawns, The day of brotherhood, The day when all men Shall be kind to all men, And all men shall be sowers of life.

_(From every side a burst of voices.)_ Hail to Red Cloud!

The Acorn-Planter!

The Life-Maker!

Hail! All hail!

The New Day dawns, The day of brotherhood, The day of man.

_(A band of Warriors appears on hillside.)_ Warriors Hail, Red Cloud!

Mightier than all fighting men!

The slayer of War!

We are not sad.

Our eyes were blinded.

We did not know one acorn planted Was mightier than an hundred fighting men.

We are not sad.

Our red work was when The world was young and wild.

The world has grown wise.

No man slays his brother.

Our work is done.

In the light of the new day are we glad.

_(A band of Pioneers and Sea Explorers appears.)_

Pioneers and Explorers Hail, Red Cloud!

The first planter!

The Acorn-Planter!