Jack London

“ But the Sun Man in his anger, Lightning flashing, thunder-throwing, Loosed the frost and fanged the famine, Thorned the bushes, pinched the berries, Put the bitter in the buckeye, Rocked the mountains to their summits, Flung the hills into the valleys, Sank the lakes and shoaled the rivers, Poured the fresh sea in the salt sea, Stamped his foot here in the forest, Where the water burst from under Heel that raised him into heaven— Angry with the world forever Rose the Sun Man into heaven. ”

“ Sun Man (Addressing the Nishinam) Nor am I a Shaman. But I will tell you true things to be. Our brothers are acorn-planters, cloth-weavers, iron-workers. Our brothers are life-makers and masters of life. Many are our brothers and strong. They will come after us. Your First Man has spoken true words. When you plant blood you harvest blood. Our brothers will come to the harvest with the thunder in their hands. There is a sign. This night, and soon, will the Wolf of Darkness eat the moon. And by that sign will our brothers come on the trail we have broken. ”

“ Red Cloud The foxes are cunning. If they snared the Sun Man With ropes of sinew, then let us be cunning And snare him with ropes of kindness. In kindness, O War Chief, is strength, much strength. Shaman Red Cloud speaks true. In kindness is strength. War Chief I am the War Chief. Shaman You cannot slay the Sun Man. War Chief I am the War Chief. Shaman The Sun Man fights with the thunder in his hand. ”

“ There was never frost nor famine And the Nishinam were happy, Singing, dancing through the seasons, Never cold and never hungered, When the Sun Man lived among us. But the foxes mean and cunning, Hating Nishinam and all men, Laid their snares within this forest, Caught the Sun Man in the morning, With their ropes of sinew caught him, Bound him down to steal his wisdom And become themselves bright Sun Men, Warm of glance and fruitful-footed, Masters of the frost and famine. ”

“ The Acorn-Planter! The harvests no more are red, but golden, We are thy children. We plant for increase, Increase of wheat and corn, Of fruit and flower, Of sheep and kine, Of love and lovers; Rich are our harvests And many are our lovers. Red Cloud Death is a stench in the nostrils, Life is beauty and joy. The planters are ever brothers. Never are the warriors brothers; Their ways are set apart, Their hands raised each against each. The planters' ways are the one way. ”

“ The foxes cannot fight, yet are they stronger than you because you cannot slay them. The foxes are foxes, but we are men. When the Sun Man comes we will not be cunning like the foxes. We will be kind. Kindness and love will we give to the Sun Man, so that he will be our friend. Then will he melt the frost, pull the teeth of famine, give us back our rivers of deep water, our lakes of sweet water, take the bitter from the buckeye, and in all ways make the world the good world it was before he left us. People Hail, Red Cloud, the first man! Hail, Red Cloud, the Acorn-Planter! ”

“ Red Cloud I am the Acorn-Planter. I am the Food- Bringer, the Life-Maker. I make food for more life, ever more life. Sun Man Then am I truly your brother. Life-Maker am I, tilling the soil in the sweat of my brow from the beginning of time, planting all manner of good seeds for the harvest. (Looking sharply at Red Cloud's skin garments.) ”

“ First must we be kind to our own. After, long after, all men will be kind to all men, and all men will be very strong. The strength of the Nishinam is not the strength of its strongest fighter. It is the strength of all the Nishinam added together that makes the Nishinam strong. We talk, you and I, War Chief and First Man, because we are kind one to the other, and thus we add together our wisdom, and all the Nishinam are stronger because we have talked. (A voice is heard singing. Red Cloud holds up his hand for silence.) ”

“ In Red Cloud, the War Chief, the Shaman, and the Dew-Woman are repeated the eternal figures of the philosopher, the soldier, the priest, and the woman—types ever realizing themselves afresh in the social adventures of man. Red Cloud recognizes the wrecked explorers as planters and life-makers, and is for treating them with kindness. But the War Chief and the idea of war are dominant The Shaman joins with the war party, and is privy to the massacre of the explorers. A hundred years pass, when, on their seasonal migration, the Nishinam camp for the night in the grove. ”

“ Dew-Woman In the night I built my fire, Fire that maidens foster when In the ripe of mating season Each builds for her man of men. Red Cloud In the night I sought her, proved her, Found her ease, content, and rest, After day of toil and struggle Man's reward on woman's breast. ”

“ For kindness and strength and beauty are one. The eagle in the high blue of the sky is beautiful. The salmon leaping the white water in the sunlight is beautiful. The young man fastest of foot in the race is beautiful. And because they fly well, and leap well, and run well, are they beautiful. Beauty must beget beauty. The ring-tail cat begets the ring-tail cat, the dove the dove. Never does the dove beget the ring-tail cat. Hearts must be kind. The little turtle is not kind. That is why it is the little turtle. ”

“ When you plant kindness you harvest kindness. When you plant blood you harvest blood. He who plants one acorn makes way for life. He who slays one man slays the planter of a thousand acorns. Shaman Shaman I am. I see the dark future. I see the Sun Man's death, The journey he must take Through thick and endless forest Where lost souls wander howling A thousand moons of moons. People Through thick and endless forest Where lost souls wander howling A thousand moons of moons. (War Chief arranges Hunters with their bows and arrows for the killing.) Sun Man (To Red Cloud.) ”

“ 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. ”

“ They still live, and the war formula for life seems vindicated, despite the imminence of the superior life-makers, the whites, who are flooding into California from north, south, east, and west—the English, the Americans, the Spaniards, and the Russians. The massacre by the white men follows, and Red Cloud, dying, recognizes the white men as brother acorn-planters, the possessors of the superior life-formula of which he had always been a protagonist. ”

“ Day long they sought, High in the mountains, Deep in the pools, Wide 'mong the grasses, In the bushes, and tree-tops, Under the earth and flat stones. Few are the acorns, Past is the time for berries, Fled are the fishes, the prawns and the grasshoppers, Blown far are the grass-seeds, Flown far are the young birds, Old are the roots and withered. ”

“ 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 pass. 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. ”

“ War Chief (With gesture of interruption that causes remonstrance from the Shaman but which Red Cloud acknowledges.) I care not for beauty. I desire strength in battle and wind in the chase that I may kill my enemy and run down my meat. Red Cloud Well spoken, O War Chief. By voices in council we learn our minds, and that, too, is strength. ”

“ 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? ”