The Acorn-Planter

And the wild meat died of sickness,
In the tribes that knew not acorns,
All their women went dry-breasted,
All their younglings chewed the deer-hides,
All their old men sighed and perished,
And the young men died beside them,
Till they died by tribe and totem,
And o'er all was death upon them.
Yet the Nishinam unvanquished,
Did not perish by the famine.
Oh, the acorns Red Cloud gave them!
Oh, the acorns Red Cloud taught them
How to store in willow baskets
'Gainst the time and need of famine!

Shaman     (Who, throughout the Old Man's recital, has
nodded approbation, turning to Red
Cloud.)
Sing to thy people, Red Cloud, the song of
life which is the song of the acorn.

Red Cloud     (Making ready to begin)     And which is the song of woman, O Shaman.

Shaman     (Hushing the people to listen, solemnly)     He sings with his father's lips, and with the
lips of his father's fathers to the beginning of time
and men.
SONG OF THE FIRST MAN

Red Cloud     I am Red Cloud,
The first man of the Nishinam.
My father was the Coyote.
My mother was the Moon.
The Coyote danced with the stars,
And wedded the Moon on a mid-summer night
The Coyote is very wise,
The Moon is very old,
Mine is his wisdom,
Mine is her age.
I am the first man.
I am the life-maker and the father of life.
I am the fire-bringer.
The Nishinam were the first men,
And they were without fire,
And knew the bite of the frost of bitter nights.
The panther stole the fire from the East,
The fox stole the fire from the panther,
The ground squirrel stole the fire from the fox,
And I, Red Cloud, stole the fire from the ground squirrel.
I, Red Cloud, stole the fire for the Nishinam,
And hid it in the heart of the wood.
To this day is the fire there in the heart of the wood.
I am the Acorn-Planter.
I brought down the acorns from heaven.
I planted the short acorns in the valley.
I planted the long acorns in the valley.
I planted the black-oak acorns that sprout, that sprout!
I planted the sho-kum and all the roots of the ground.
I planted the oat and the barley, the beaver-tail grass-nut,
The tar-weed and crow-foot, rock lettuce and ground lettuce,
And I taught the virtue of clover in the season of blossom,
The yellow-flowered clover, ball-rolled in its yellow dust.
I taught the cooking in baskets by hot stones from the fire,
Took the bite from the buckeye and soap-root
By ground-roasting and washing in the sweetness of water,
And of the manzanita the berry I made into flour,
Taught the way of its cooking with hot stones in sand pools,
And the way of its eating with the knobbed tail of the deer.
Taught I likewise the gathering and storing,
The parching and pounding
Of the seeds from the grasses and grass-roots;
And taught I the planting of seeds in the Nishinam home-camps,
In the Nishinam hills and their valleys,
In the due times and seasons,
To sprout in the spring rains and grow ripe in the sun.

Shaman     Hail, Red Cloud, the first man!

The People     Hail, Red Cloud, the first man!

Shaman     Who showedst us the way of our feet in the world!

The People     Who showedst us the way of our feet in the world!

Shaman     Who showedst us the way of our food in the world!

The People     Who showedst us the way of our food in the world!

Shaman     Who showedst us the way of our hearts in the world!

The People     Who showedst us the way of our hearts in the world!

Shaman     Who gavest us the law of family!

The People     Who gavest us the law of family!

Shaman     The law of tribe!

The People     The law of tribe!

Shaman     The law of totem!