and not remembered it?
CHIEF
That which lies upon all that have power with the Friend of the Soul
of Man. Only the gods can save us, and only you know the true and
acceptable road to them.
THE CHISERA
(_Rising and moving toward her hut._) I am overweary for the road;
let Simwa find it.
(_An arrow, with a feather and a fragment of bark attached to it,
is shot into the camp from the direction of the fighting._
PADAHOON _takes it up and carries it to the_ CHIEF, _the others
crowding about._)
CHIEF
What was that?
PADAHOON
A message from the Fighting Men.
CHIEF
Read me the token.
PADAHOON
A vulture's feather and a bark of _whenonabe_. Defeat and flight.
WOMEN
Ai! Ai!
(_They throw up their arms in despair._)
CHIEF
They will not be far behind their arrows.
(_All listen. A faint whoop is heard._ PADAHOON _answers with his
mouth covered with his hands. The rest of the women and children
come out of the rocks. Fighting Men come clambering up the steep.
They show torn clothing and streaks of blood. The women bring
them the water-bottles as they drop upon the ground._ WACOBA'S
_husband_, PAMAQUASH, _with an arrow in his side, leaps once in
air and drops dead. His wife sinks on the ground beside him,
rocking and moaning. One breaks his unstrung bow across his knees
and stamps the pieces in the earth. Finally comes_ SIMWA, _his
war-bonnet bedraggled._)
SIMWA
Ugh! Is it so I find the fighting men of Sagharawite--huddled
together like rabbits when the coyotes are after them?
WACOBA
(_Scattering dust on her head._) Ai! Ai! My man, my man!
SIMWA
Be still, you fool! Would you call up our enemies with your noise?
(_The wailing drops to a moan._) Put out that fire--they can sniff
smoke as far as a vulture smells carrion. (CHOCO _stamps out the
fire._) You, Choco, do you show your face to me, misgotten whelp of a
coyote! It was you who led the fleeing.
CHOCO
(_Sullenly._) It was Tavwots.
TAVWOTS
By the Bear, you shall have a wound for that, though you ran too fast
to have one in battle.
(_He draws the obsidian knife at his belt._)
PADAHOON
Fools! (_He strikes up_ TAVWOTS' _arm; another Indian jerks_ CHOCO
_by the ankles causing him to sit down._) Have you killed so many in
battle, Tavwots, that you can afford to lose us a fighting man?
(_The men subside, exhausted._)
CHIEF
Peace! Though I am too old for battle, yet am I master in the camp.
What has happened?
SIMWA
We have shown the Tecuyas what running is like.
TAVWOTS
The gods send we have run fast enough to throw them off the trail,
else they will attack before morning.
(_Consternation among the women._)
CHIEF
(_To them._) _Kima!_ (_Their grief falls off to a whimper. To_
SIMWA.) Where met you?
SIMWA
Under Waban where they stayed to cook venison they had killed. We had
every way the advantage--
TAVWOTS
As much as rabbits when they have met with coyotes. They were three
to one of us.
SIMWA
(_Ignoring him with an effort._) We were between them and cover--we
were driving them toward Waban--but they sent one out against us
armed--Chief and father, how do you think he was armed who put the
sons of the Bear to flight? With a stick--a painted stick with
feathers on it. (_Angry and protesting murmurs._) An old man with a
stick, Rain Wind, and they ran before him like squaws who deserve a
beating! Faugh! (_Native movement of disgust._)
TAVWOTS
(_Rising on his elbow._) You shall be sicker, Simwa, when you have
eaten your words. That old man was Tibu, the medicine man of the
Tecuyas. I knew him.
SIMWA
Then it was you, Tavwots, who broke and ran?
TAVWOTS
He came upon us with charms and spells. He had the gods on his side.
CHOCO
Our hearts were turned to water because of his evil medicine.
CHIEF
Are not the gods of Sagharawite stronger than the gods of the
Tecuyas?
TAVWOTS
Not when we have one to lead us who despises their blessings.
SIMWA
Well, I believe in the medicine of Tibu. He has made old women of
you.
CHIEF
Think no more of that. Let us consider what is to be done.
(_Shadows of vultures appear on the rocks, attracted by the
dead._ WACOBA _springs up from casting dust upon her head to flap
them away with her blanket, which she spreads over the body of
her husband._)
PADAHOON
(_As he motions to the men to move the body near the shelter._) Yes,
it is time to take counsel when the birds of the air betray us to our
enemies.
(_The women gather together about the dead. One of them takes
the place of the sentry who comes to Council. The men collect
near the_ CHISERA'S _hut with the exception of_ SIMWA, _who
remains seated, re-stringing his bow._ BRIGHT WATER _goes to
him._)
BRIGHT WATER
Simwa, how long will you let your pride destroy us?
SIMWA
Is that a word for a man's wife?
BRIGHT WATER
It is a true one. Do we not know, you and I, that it is but pride
that makes you stand out against the friend of the gods? Look at me,
Simwa, is it not proved on my body that she spoke truly when she said
that you throve only by her blessing?
SIMWA
Can you bear to admit so much?
BRIGHT WATER
Bear? What have I not borne? Have I complained when I dig roots? Have
I quivered when I was mocked? Has there been any sign of shame on my
face for all the scorne on theirs? Have I said, "Give me children,"
when the nursing mothers pitied me? Oh, I have borne, I have borne;
but this I cannot bear.
SIMWA
What is now so hard?
BRIGHT WATER
To know that you and I know the truth and that you will see the tribe
wiped out before you will admit it.
SIMWA
The truth?
BRIGHT WATER
That you were the Chisera's lover for the sake of what she could do
for you, and your denial left her no way to prove it except by taking
away the help of the gods from us all. Is not that the truth?
SIMWA
Would you have me ashamed before all men?
BRIGHT WATER
When have I not been ashamed since I married you?
SIMWA
Let her alone! They will kill her if she refuses to make medicine and
then we shall be rid of her.
BRIGHT WATER
And you would permit that? (_He shifts uneasily under her gaze._)
Simwa--(_With profound entreaty._) Simwa!
SIMWA
What is the witch to me?
BRIGHT WATER
My sister, I think, for she has loved you even as I have, to my
sorrow.
(_She turns away from him meditating some deep purpose, and from
this time on the progress of that purpose in her mind is evident
in her bearing toward her husband._)
CHIEF
(_Coming forward._) Let the Council sit. (_They sit as in_ ACT I.)
Simwa, as war leader, what plan have you?
SIMWA
It wants not plans so much as men to do them.
CHIEF
Whatever is in any man's mind for the good of the tribe, let it be
delivered. Observe not the rule of the elders, but speak at once. (_A
moment, during which black looks are cast at_ SIMWA.) Will no one
speak?
PADAHOON
Chief and tribesmen, once I gave counsel and you despised it--
CHIEF
No more of that. Give counsel now.
PADAHOON
It is the same counsel, but time has not mended the occasion. Penned
here on the edge of the precipice we can but starve. We must break
through our enemies and strike at their women and their stores.
TAVWOTS
Every trail is watched. Not so much as a weasel can go in and out
from Toorape and they not know it.
PADAHOON
With so many watchers, then, they cannot have much of a fighting
force at any point. In an hour it will be dark; we shall go down by
Deer Leap with the women and children, and stay not for fighting,
but, fleeing for our lives, break through to their villages--
CHOCO
But if they move on us to-night? If the vultures have already
betrayed us--even now they may be within earshot?
TAVWOTS
If they come up with us before we reach Deer Leap it is to run into
the wolf's mouth.
PADAHOON
I have thought of that. To-night they expect us to mourn our dead and
go before our gods--
CHIEF
So should we.
PADAHOON
That they may think so, leave one behind to sound the medicine drum
throughout the night. So they shall fear to attack and expect an
easier victory in the morning when we are exhausted with dancing to
the gods.
TAVWOTS
But he that stays, what shall become of him--
CHIEF
He shall die as becomes him (_rising_)--as becomes a chief of his
people.
(_Murmurs of consternation and then silence._)
PADAHOON
But another--whose counsels we prize less--
CHIEF
It is the tribal use. None else too blind for the trail and too
feeble for the sortie (_with grim humor_)--but I can drum. (_Solemn
grunts of approval._)
PADAHOON
If we win through Deer Leap, we can make terms for you. Tribesmen,
what say you? (_A pause._)
TAVWOTS
What I say is for myself only; but I go not out against the Tecuyas
again unless the Chisera has blessed the going.
THE COUNCIL
Good counsel; good counsel! He has it!
SIMWA
There are two or three things to the making of fighting men, Tavwots,
beside the blessing of women.
TAVWOTS
Two or three things, Simwa, that I think you have not: honor to win
advantage and wit to keep what you have got.
PADAHOON
As for me, I am with Tavwots; but (_he looks at_ SIMWA)--the gods
have no favors for unbelievers.
TAVWOTS
Nor have we, by the Bear!
INDIANS
(_Springing up._) Nor have we! No; by the Bear! Out with him! (_They
hustle_ SIMWA. _One snatches off the war-bonnet, another the collar
of bears' claws. Even the women strike dust upon him with their feet
in an excess of contempt._)
CHIEF
Peace, tribesmen!
TAVWOTS
Perhaps we shall have peace when we have a leader against whom
neither the gods nor women have a spite. Tribesmen, who shall lead
the going out but he who planned it?
INDIANS
Hi! Hi! Padahoon! Padahoon! (_They fling the collar about his neck._
TAVWOTS _hands him the bonnet._) Hi! Hi! The Sparrow Hawk.
PADAHOON
Do not count on me too much with the Chisera; all this time I have
kept in camp with my wound I have reasoned with her, but still she
refuses me.
CHIEF
There shall be an end to that--
PADAHOON
How then--?
CHIEF
Who denies service to the tribe in extremity must be dealt with as an
enemy. (_Consternation._)
CHOCO
But a friend of the gods--
TAVWOTS
Let the gods save her--
CHIEF
There are times when the gods must be content to stand still and see
what men will do. Who serves not us, serves our enemies. It is the
law.
PADAHOON
(_Reluctantly._) It is the law--
CHIEF
Death or good medicine--Speak, tribesmen!
(_Above the silence of the Council is heard the deep, excited
breathing of the women._)
THE COUNCIL
(_One after another._) Death. Death. Death or good medicine. It is
the law.
CHIEF
(_To_ PADAHOON.) Bid her come.
PADAHOON
(_At the hut._) Chisera, come to Council!
THE CHISERA
(_Issuing, wrapped in her blanket._) Who sends for me?
CHIEF
Death is hot upon our trail. Stay him with your spells.
MEN AND WOMEN
Good medicine, Chisera, good medicine!
THE CHISERA
Have you not a war leader--
(_She stops, noticing the bonnet on_ PADAHOON--_looks from him
to_ SIMWA.)
PADAHOON
Who invites your blessing, Chisera!
CHIEF
Make spells for thy people!
THE CHISERA
What have my people done for me that I should weary myself to make
medicine for them?
CHIEF
Are you not respected above all women of the campody? Even in
war-time--
THE CHISERA
Ah--respect! What have I to do with respect? Am I not as other women
that men should desire me? Are my breasts less fair that there should
never be milk in them?
CHIEF
We honor you after the use of medicine men. What more would you have?
THE CHISERA
The dole of women. Love and sorrow and housekeeping; a husband to
give me children, even though he beat me.
CHIEF
Love you have given, and sorrow you have got. Shame and defeat are
your children. So it is always when power falls upon women. The word
has passed in Council, Chisera; will you repair this damage, or will
you die for it?
THE CHISERA
(_As her eye travels the circle of the camp._) I do not find the
taste of life so sweet that I should turn it twice upon my tongue;
but--(_Her gaze halts on_ SIMWA, _and all the attention of the camp
seems to hang a moment in suspense as_ SIMWA _ignores her._) Do I
die, then?
PADAHOON
Let Simwa die!
INDIANS
Ah--ah--!
SIMWA
What, old fox, are you out of cover at last?
PADAHOON
By whom trouble came into the camp, let it depart. Who prevented the
wisdom of the gods at the throwing of the sacred sticks? By whose
counsel were our allies of Castac destroyed? Who hardened the
Chisera's heart so that she kept not our foes from us?
INDIANS
Simwa! Simwa!
PADAHOON
Sons of the Bear, do you think to win favor of the gods when you have
one who mocks them in your midst? Would you see the backs of the
Tecuyas? Would you win to your homes again? Let Simwa die!
INDIANS
Aye, aye. Let Simwa die! A judgment! A judgment!
SIMWA
(_Aside to his wife._) My quiver, hand me my quiver!
CHIEF
Simwa, as thou art a son to me, I fear the charge is just. But do you
entreat the Chisera to go before the gods for us, then will this evil
pass.
SIMWA
(_Rising._) And if I choose to have it said that when the tribesmen
of Sagharawite took a woman to Council, only Simwa stood out against
it?
CHIEF
Then must I give judgment.
BRIGHT WATER
Simwa!
SIMWA
(_Folding his arms._) It shall not be said of me that I have borne to
take my life of a woman.
THE CHISERA
Whether you can bear it or not, it shall be said of you, for though I
am unhappy, I am still the Chisera, and I declare unto you that
neither the life nor the death of a broken man can avail to turn the
gods. But you, Chief Rain Wind, and you tribesmen of Sagharawite,--if
you must visit the loss of my power, let it be on your own heads, for
you only are blameworthy.
CHIEF
This is no time for riddles, Chisera.
THE CHISERA
I mean none. What did Simwa other to me than the occasion allowed
him? Was it his fault that he found me alone and love-hungry? Was it
he who ordered that I should live apart where no woman could see how
my heart went and give me counsel? Was it any fault but yours--you
that kept me far from your huts lest I should see and carry word to
the gods how unworthy you were! You that feared yourselves lessened
when I walked among you with my power--Ai! Ai! Did you think at all
what became of the woman so long as you had my medicine to help you?
TIAWA
(_Creeping forward._) So I said, so I said from the beginning. She
was taught to be a Chisera, but she was born a woman! (_Excitement
among the women._)
CHIEF
Your words are sharp, Chisera.
THE CHISERA
The fact is sharper. It has eaten through my bosom.
CHIEF
We meant the best--we judged you companioned by the gods.
THE CHISERA
Did ever a woman serve them the less because she had dealt with a
man? Nay, all the power of woman comes from loving and being loved,
and now the bitterest of all my loss is to know that I have never had
it.
(_She draws up her blanket._)
BRIGHT WATER
And not you only--
THE CHISERA
You--?
(_She turns away confounded._)
SIMWA
Wife--wife--if she finds the gods again, they will surely kill me.
BRIGHT WATER
Let them. Though I am your wife, I am the Chief's daughter, and the
tribe is still something to me. I will save them if I can. Chisera--
(_The_ CHISERA _listens and turns slowly._)
CHIEF
Is that my daughter?
TAVWOTS
Hush! Perhaps she will move her!
BRIGHT WATER
Do you think yourself aggrieved so much, Chisera? Come, I will match
sorrow with you, I and all these (_the women surge forward_), and the
stakes shall be the people. Here is my pride that I throw down, in my
bride year to know my husband an impostor. Have you any sorrow to
match with that?
WACOBA
Since you wish a man so much, Chisera, here is mine whom the vultures
seek.
(_The women part to show the dead man stark in his blanket._)
HAIWAI
Would you have a child at your breast, Chisera, here is mine, for my
milk is dried with hunger.
(_She holds up her swaddled child which_ BRIGHT WATER _takes and
holds toward the_ CHISERA, _who stands confused, for the first
time acutely aware of their misery._)
BRIGHT WATER
(_Measuring the effect of her words._) Chisera, my breast is as
fruitless as yours--but you ... you have ... good medicine.
TIAWA
Lay hold on the gods, Chisera, these are ills from which man cannot
save us!
(_The_ CHISERA _throws out her hands to signify the loss of her
power, her blanket slips to the ground and she covers her face
with her hands._)
THE CHISERA
Gone--gone! It is gone from me!
BRIGHT WATER
(_Signing to the women to hide the blanket._)
By dancing you shall bring it back again--for the sake of the women
and children--dance, Chisera!
(_Her voice has a kindling sound, and the women echo it with a
breath._)
THE CHISERA
Oh, I have danced until the earth under me is beaten to dust, and my
heart is as dry as the dust, and all my songs have fallen to the
ground. (_She begins to walk up and down excitedly._) With what cry
shall I call on the gods, now my songs are departed? (_She begins to
chant._)
And my heart is emptied of all
But the grief of women.
(_The women watch her breathlessly; as she gradually swings into
the dance, they seem to urge her with the stress of their
anxiety._)
All the anguish of women,
It smells to the gods
As the dead after battle,
It sounds in my heart
As the hollow drums calling to battle,
And the gods come quickly.
(_As she falters the tribe surges forward._)
TRIBE
Dance, Chisera, dance!
(_She tries again and no strength comes--the men hold up their
hands, palms outward, in the sign of prayer. The drum begins
hollowly._)
Come, O my power,
Indwelling spirit!
It is I that call.
Childless, unmated--
(_Drums and rattles are brought out, at first cautiously, lest
she take alarm and be turned from her purpose, but as the fervor
of her dancing increases, with increased confidence._ SIMWA
_remains seated at one side, watching her, his foot touching his
quiver._ PADAHOON, _who has moved over near him, observes him
narrowly in the interval of dancing._ CHISERA _sings._)
Nay, I shall mate with the gods,
And the tribesmen shall be my children.
Rise up in me, O, my power,
On the wings of eagles!
Return on me as the rain
The earth renewing,
Make my heart fruitful
To nourish my children.
(SIMWA _is seen to strip the magic arrow from his quiver._)
BRIGHT WATER
Simwa, Simwa, what do you do?
SIMWA
No more than the gods will do to me if they hear her.
THE CHISERA
This is my song that I make,
I, the Chisera,
The song of the mateless woman:
None holdeth my hand but the Friend,
In the silence, in the secret places
We shall beget great deeds between us!
(_As she rises on the last movement of the dance toward ecstasy,
the excitement rises with her, expressing itself in short,
irrepressible yelps, at the highest point of which a scream from_
BRIGHT WATER _arrests the dancers._)
BRIGHT WATER
Chisera, the arrow, the black arrow! (SIMWA _shoots._)
THE CHISERA
(_Dying._) Ah, Simwa! (_Dies._)
(_In the distance is heard the shout of the approaching
Tecuyas._)
CURTAIN
GLOSSARY OF INDIAN WORDS AND PHRASES
THE DANCES
COSTUMES
GLOSSARY OF INDIAN WORDS AND PHRASES
The names and phrases used in _The Arrow-Maker_ were chosen from the
culture area comprising the central valleys of California, from
tribes belonging to or affiliated with the Paiute group. Exact
definitions could not always be ascertained and frequently the
meaning given by different villages differed widely. Whenever
possible the nomenclature of the locality in which the incident
occurred is preferred.
_Choco._ "Fatty"; a nickname of doubtful origin, possibly from the
Spanish _Chopo_.
_Pamaquash._ "Very tall"; the Paiute equivalent of Longfellow.
_Castac._ "Place of Springs"; a small valley in the southerly Sierra,
from which the inhabitants take their name.
_Yavi._ A common given name, meaning unknown.
_Tavwots._ "Mighty Hunter"; a name given to the rabbit in Paiute
lore.
_Seegooche._ "Woman who gives good things to eat." Lady Bountiful.
_Tiawa._ A familiar title frequently given to old women, like
"Grannie."
_Wacoba._ "Flower of the Oak"; oak tassel, also the plume of the
quail.
_Chisera._ Medicine Woman; witch. (See last chapter of _The Flock_
for account of the original Medicine Woman from whom the character
was drawn.)
_Tuiyo._ "Shining"; very bright.
_Pioke._ "Dew drop."
_Simwa._ Applied in humorous sense, meaning a "swell."
_Padahoon._ The Sparrow Hawk.
_Tecuya._ Oak thicket, _encinal_.
_Pahrump._ Corn water. A place where there is water enough to grow a
crop of corn.
_Sagharawite._ "Place of the mush that was afraid." An Indian village
named from the quaking, gelatinous mush of acorn meal.
_Paiute._ More properly "Pah Ute": the Utes who live by running water
as distinguished from the Utes of the Great Basin; one of the
interior tribes of the Pacific Coast.
"Friend of the Soul of Man." The Great Spirit; the Holy Ghost.
_Toorape._ "Captain"; chief; a name given to one of the peaks of the
Sierras.
"The Sacred Sticks." A number of small sticks with peculiar markings.
Divination was practiced by throwing them on the ground and
interpreting the pattern in which they fell.
_Haiwai._ "The dove."
_Winnedumah._ "Standing Rock"; a legendary hero.
_Tinnemaha._ Probably "Medicine Water." Mineral spring. Brother of
the hero in the legend of Winnedumah.
"Eaten meadowlarks' tongues." Said of one nimble of wit. With the
idea that like cures like, Indians were accustomed to feed backward
or defective children with associated parts of animals.
_Whenonabe._ Bitter brush; a decoction of the bark producing colic
and griping; a symbol of disaster.
"Rattle-weed." _Astragalus_; produces madness when eaten.
"Toyon." California Christmas Berry.
"Snake-in-the-grass ... tattle to the gods." Snakes are believed to
be the messengers and familiars of the gods; therefore the Paiutes
tell no important matter in the summer when they are about.
"To dig roots before her wedding year is out." A curse equivalent to
barrenness. The work of digging roots was not performed by expectant
mothers.
"Wickiup." A wattled hut of brush, made by planting willow poles
about a pit four or five feet deep and six to eight feet in diameter.
The poles were then drawn over in a dome and thatched with reeds or
brush.
"Campody." An Indian village; from the Spanish _campo_.
_Barranca._ A bank, the abrupt face of a _mesa_. From the Spanish.
THE DANCES
All tribal or emotional occasions among Indians are invariably
accompanied by singing and dancing. These are frequently derived from
the movements of animals and are both pantomimic and symbolic.
The object of the medicine dance is to work up the dancer to a state
of trance, in which he receives a revelation in regard to the matter
under consideration.
Some of these medicine dances are ritualistic in character and must
be performed with great strictness, but in the case of the Chisera
the dance is assumed to be made up of various dance elements
expressing the emotion of the moment, combined by individual taste
and skill.
Power is supposed to descend upon the dancer as he proceeds.
Sometimes the dance lasts for hours, and even for days before the
proper trance condition is attained. Even then the revelation may not
come until a second or third climax has been reached.
The blanket dance is common throughout the Southwest, and possibly
elsewhere. It is accompanied by a song which says, in effect, "How
lovely it will be when you and I have but one blanket." By the young
people it is not taken any more seriously than "drop the
handkerchief" and other courtship games.
COSTUMES
While the scene of this play is laid among the Paiute peoples, there
is nothing which makes it absolutely unlikely among any of the
hunting tribes.
Considerable latitude is therefore permissible in costume and
accessories. The only indispensable thing is that all these should be
kept within a given culture area. Every article of Indian use or
apparel is determined by some condition of living, and it is a
mistake to mix costumes from various tribes.
Concessions must be made to the objections of the modern audience to
the state of nudity which would be natural to the time in which the
story is laid. But even making allowance for this, the tendency is
always to overdo, to have too many beads and fringes and war-bonnets.
No more than his white brother did the Indian wear all his best
clothes every day.
The blanket is the most considerable item of Indian equipment. At
once by its quality, its color, and its pattern it announces
something of the wearer's rank and condition.