GIFT OF
THE ACORN-PLANTER
o.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NBW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TORONTO
THE
ACORN-PLANTER
A CALIFORNIA FOREST PLAY
PLANNED TO BE SUNG BY EFFICIENT SINGERS
ACCOMPANIED BY A CAPABLE
ORCHESTRA
BY
JACK LONDON
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1916
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1916,
BY JACK LONDON.
Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1916.
J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
ARGUMENT
IN the morning of the world, while his tribe
makes its camp for the night in a grove, Red
Cloud, the first man of men, and the first man
of the Nishinam, save in war, sings of the duty
of life, which duty is to make life more abun
dant. The Shaman, or medicine man, sings of
foreboding and prophecy. The War Chief, who
commands in war, sings that war is the only
way to life. This Red Cloud denies, affirming
that the way of life is the way of the acorn-
planter, and that whoso slays one man slays
the planter of many acorns. Red Cloud wins
the Shaman and the people to his contention.
After the passage of thousands of years, again
in the grove appear the Nishinam. 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
340603
vi ARGUMENT
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. 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-plant
ers, the possessors of the superior life-formula
of which he had always been a protagonist.
In the Epilogue, or Apotheosis, occur the
celebration of the death of war and the triumph
of the acorn-planters.
PROLOGUE
PROLOGUE
TIME. In the morning of the world.
SCENE. A forest hillside where great trees stand with wide
spaces between. A stream flows from a spring that bursts
out of the hillside. It is a place of lush ferns and brakes,
also, of thickets of such shrubs as inhabit a redwood forest
floor. At the left, in the open level space at the foot of the.
hillside, extending out of sight among the trees, is visible a
portion of a Nishinam Indian camp. It is a temporary
camp for the night. Small cooking fires smoulder. Stand
ing about are withe-woven baskets for the carrying of supplies
and dunnage. Spears and bows and quivers of arrows lie
about. Boys drag in dry branches for firewood. Young
women fill gourds with water from the stream and proceed
about their camp tasks. A number of older women are
pounding acorns in stone mortars with stone pestles. An
old man and a Shaman, or priest, look expectantly up the
hillside. All wear moccasins and are skin-clad, primitive,
in their garmenting. Neither iron nor woven cloth occurs
in the weapons and gear.
SHAMAN
(Looking up hillside.)
Red Cloud is late.
OLD MAN
(After inspection of hillside)
He has chased the deer far. He is patient.
In the chase he is patient like an old man.
3
4 THE ACORN-PLANTER
SHAMAN
His feet are as fleet as the deer's.
OLD MAN
(Nodding.)
And he is more patient than the deer.
SHAMAN
(Assertively, as if inculcating a lesson.)
He is a mighty chief.
OLD MAN
(Nodding.)
His father was a mighty chief. He is like to
his father.
SHAMAN
(More assertively.)
He is his father. It is so spoken. He is
his father's father. He is the first man, the
first Red Cloud, ever born, and born again, to
chiefship of his people.
OLD MAN
It is so spoken.
SHAMAN
His father was the Coyote. His mother was
the Moon. And he was the first man.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 5
OLD MAN
(Repeating.)
His father was the Coyote. His mother was
the Moon. And he was the first man.
SHAMAN
He planted the first acorns, and he is very
wise.
OLD MAN
(Repeating.)
He planted the first acorns, and he is very
wise.
(Cries from the women and a turning of
Jaces. RED CLOUD appears among his
hunters descending the hillside. All
carry spears, and bows and arrows.
Some carry rabbits and other small
game. Several carry deer.)
PLAINT OF THE NISHINAM
Red Cloud, the meat-bringer!
Red Cloud, the acorn-planter!
Red Cloud, first man of the Nishinam!
Thy people hunger.
6 THE ACORN-PLANTER
Far have they fared.
Hard has the way been.
Day long they sought,
High in the mountain*,
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 grass
hoppers,
Blown far are the grass-seeds,
Flown far are the young birds,
Old are the roots and withered.
Built are the fires for the meat.
Laid are the boughs for sleep,
Yet thy people cannot sleep.
Red Cloud, thy people hunger.
RED CLOUD
(Still descending.)
Good hunting ! Good hunting !
HUNTERS
Good hunting ! Good hunting !
THE ACORN-PLANTER 7
(Completing the descent, RED CLOUD
motions to the meat-bearers. They throw
down their burdens before the women,
who greedily inspect the spoils.)
MEAT SONG OF THE NISHINAM
Meat that is good to eat,
Tender for old teeth,
Gristle for young teeth,
Big deer and fat deer,
Lean meat and fat meat,
Haunch-meat and knuckle-bone,
Liver and heart.
Food for the old men,
Life for all men,
For women and babes.
Easement of hunger-pangs,
Sorrow destroying,
Laughter provoking,
Joy invoking,
In the smell of its smoking
And its sweet in the mouth.
(The younger women take charge of the meat,
and the older women resume their acorn-
pounding.)
8 THE ACORN-PLANTER
(RED CLOUD approaches the acorn-
pounders and watches them with pleasure.
All group about him, the SHAMAN to the
fore, and hang upon his every action, his
every utterance?)
RED CLOUD
The heart of the acorn is good?
FIRST OLD WOMAN
(Nodding?)
It is good food.
RED CLOUD
When you have pounded and winnowed and
washed away the bitter.
SECOND OLD WOMAN
As thou taught'st us, Red Cloud, when the
world was very young and thou wast the first man.
RED CLOUD
It is a fat food. It makes life, and life is good.
SHAMAN
It was thou, Red Cloud, gathering the acorns
and teaching the storing, who gavest life to the
THE ACORN-PLANTER 9
Nishinam in the lean years aforetime, when the
tribes not of the Nishinam passed like the dew
of the morning.
(He nods a signal to the OLD MAN.)
OLD MAN
In the famine in the old time,
When the old man was a young man,
When the heavens ceased from raining,
When the grasslands parched and withered,
When the fishes left the river,
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 !
10 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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 ACORN-PLANTER II
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 !
12 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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 Nishi-
nam home-camps,
THE ACORN-PLANTER 13
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 !
14 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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 !
THE PEOPLE
The law of totem !
SHAMAN
And madest us strong in the world among
men!
THE PEOPLE
And madest us strong in the world among
men!
THE ACORN-PLANTER 15
RED CLOUD
Life is good, 0 Shaman, and I have sung but
half its song. Acorns are good. So is woman
good. Strength is good. Beauty is good. So is
kindness good. Yet are all these things without
power except for woman. And by these things
woman makes strong men, and strong men make
for life, ever for more life.
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. Also, is it kindness. 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 beauti
ful. The young man fastest of foot in the race
is beautiful. And because they fly well, and leap
16 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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. It lays its
eggs in the sun-warm sand and forgets its young
forever. And the little turtle is forever the
little turtle. But we are not little turtles, be
cause we are kind. We do not leave our young
to the sun in the sand. Our women keep our
young warm under their hearts, and, after, they
keep them warm with deer-skin and campfire.
Because we are kind we are men and not little
turtles, and that is why we eat the little turtle
that is not strong because it is not kind.
WAR CHIEF
(Gesturing to be heard.)
The Modoc come against us in their strength.
Often the Modoc come against us. We cannot
be kind to the Modoc.
RED CLOUD
That will come after. Kindness grows. First
must we be kind to our own. After, long after,
all men will be kind to all men, and all men will
THE ACORN-PLANTER 17
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.)
MATING SONG
DEW-WOMAN
In the morning by the river,
In the evening at the fire,
In the night when all lay sleeping,
Torn was I with life's desire.
There were stirrings 'neath my heart-beats
Of the dreams that came to me ;
In my ears were whispers, voices,
Of the children yet to be.
RED CLOUD
(As RED CLOUD sings, DEW- WOMAN
steals from behind a tree and approaches
him.)
c
1 8 THE ACORN-PLANTER
In the morning by the river
Saw I first my maid of dew,
Daughter of the dew and dawnlight,
Of the dawn and honey-dew.
She was laughter, she was sunlight,
Woman, maid, and mate, and wife ;
She was sparkle, she was gladness,
She was all the song of life.
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.
DEW-WOMAN
Came to me my mate and lover ;
Kind the hands he laid on me ;
Wooed me gently as a man may,
Father of the race to be.
THE ACORN-PLANTER IQ
RED CLOUD
Soft her arms about me bound me,
First man of the Nishinam,
Arms as soft as dew and dawnlight,
Daughter of the Nishinam.
RED CLOUD
She was life and she was woman !
DEW-WOMAN
He was life and he was man !
RED CLOUD AND DEW- WOMAN
(Arms about each other.)
In the dusk-time of our love-night,
There beside the marriage fire,
Proved we all the sweets of living,
In the arms of our desire.
WAR CHIEF
(Angrily.)
The councils of men are not the place for
women.
RED CLOUD
(Gently.)
As men grow kind and wise there will be
women in the councils of men. As men grow
20 THE ACORN-PLANTER
their women must grow with them if they would
continue to be the mothers of men.
WAR CHIEF
It is told of old time that there are women in
the councils of the Sun. And is it not told that
the Sun Man will destroy us ?
RED CLOUD
Then is the Sun Man the stronger ; it may be
because of his kindness and wiseness, and because
of his women.
YOUNG BRAVE
Is it told that the women of the Sun are good
to the eye, soft to the arm, and a fire in the heart
of man?
SHAMAN
(Holding up hand solemnly.)
It were well, lest the young do not forget, to
repeat the old word again.
WAR CHIEF
(Nodding confirmation.)
Here, where the tale is told.
(Pointing to the spring.)
Here, where the water burst from under the heel
of the Sun Man mounting into the sky.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 21
(WAR CHIEF leads the way up the hillside
to the spring, and signals to the OLD MAN
to begin)
THE SNARING OF THE SUN
OLD MAN
When the world was in the making,
Here within the mighty forest,
Came the Sun Man every morning.
White and shining was the Sun Man,
Blue his eyes were as the sky-blue,
Bright his hair was as dry grass is,
Warm his eyes were as the sun is,
Fruit and flower were in his glances ;
All he looked on grew and sprouted,
As these trees we see about us,
Mightiest trees in all the forest,
For the Sun Man looked upon them.
Where his glance fell grasses 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.
22 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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.
Swiftly the Coyote running
Came to aid the fallen Sun Man,
Swiftly killed the cunning foxes,
Swiftly cut the ropes of sinew,
Swiftly the Coyote freed him.
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,
THE ACORN-PLANTER 23
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.
SHAMAN
(Solemnly?)
I am the Shaman. I know what has gone
before and what will come after. I have passed
down through the gateway of death and talked
with the dead. My eyes have looked upon the
unseen things. My ears have heard the
unspoken words. And now I shall tell you of
the Sun Man in the days to come.
(SHAMAN stiffens suddenly with hideous
facial distortions, with inturned eye-balls
and loosened jaw. He waves his arms
about, writhes and twists in torment, as
if in epilepsy?)
(The WOMEN break into a wailing, inartic
ulate chant, swaying their bodies to the
accent. The men join them somewhat
24 THE ACORN-PLANTER
reluctantly, all save RED CLOUD, who
betrays vexation, and WAR CHIEF, who
betrays truculence.)
(SHAMAN, leading the rising frenzy, with
convulsive shiverings and tremblings tears
of his skin garments so that he is quite
naked save for a girdle of eagle-claws
about his thighs. His long black hair
flies about his face. With an abruptness
that is startling, he ceases all movement
and stands erect, rigid. This is greeted
with a low moaning that slowly dies
away.)
CHANT OF PROPHECY
SHAMAN
The Sun never grows cold.
The Sun Man is like the Sun.
His anger never grows cold.
The Sun Man will return.
The Sun Man will come back from the Sun.
PEOPLE
The Sun Man will return.
The Sun Man will come back from the Sun.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 25
SHAMAN
There is a sign.
As the water burst forth when he rose into
the sky,
So will the water cease to flow when he returns
from the sky.
The Sun Man is mighty.
In his eyes is blue fire.
In his hands he bears the thunder.
The lightnings are in his hair.
PEOPLE
In his hands he bears the thunder.
The lightnings are in his hair.
SHAMAN
There is a sign.
The Sun Man is white.
His skin is white like the sun.
His hair is bright like the sunlight/
His eyes are blue like the sky.
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
The Sun Man is white.
26 THE ACORN-PLANTER
SHAMAN
The Sun Man is mighty.
He is the enemy of the Nishinam.
He will destroy the Nishinam.
PEOPLE
He is the enemy of the Nishinam.
He will destroy the Nishinam.
SHAMAN
There is a sign.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
SHAMAN
In the day the Sun Man comes
The water from the spring will no longer flow.
And in that day he will destroy the Nishinam.
With the thunder will he destroy the Nishinam.
The Nishinam will be like last year's grasses.
The Nishinam will be like the smoke of last
year's campfires.
The Nishinam will be less than the dreams that
trouble the sleeper.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 27
The Nishinam will be like the days no man
remembers.
I am the Shaman.
I have spoken.
(The PEOPLE set up a sad wailing)
WAR CHIEF
(Striking his chest with his fist.)
Hohl Hoh! Hoh!
(The PEOPLE cease from their wailing and
look to the WAR CHIEF with hopeful
expectancy)
WAR CHIEF
I am the War Chief. In war I command.
Nor the Shaman nor Red Cloud may say me nay
when in war I command. Let the Sun Man
come back. I am not afraid. If the foxes snared
him with ropes, then can I slay him with spear-
thrust and war-club. I am the War Chief. In
war I command.
(The PEOPLE greet WAR CHIEF'S pro
nouncement with warlike cries of
approval.)
28 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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 kind
ness, 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.
WAR CHIEF
I am the War Chief.
RED CLOUD
(As he speaks the PEOPLE are visibly won by
his argument.)
THE ACORN-PLANTER 29
You speak true, O War Chief. In war you
command. You are strong, most strong. You
have slain the Modoc. You have slain the Napa.
You have slain the Clam-Eaters of the big water
till the last one is not. Yet you have not slain
all the foxes. 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 !
Who showed us the way of our feet in the world !
Who showed us the way of our food in the world !
Who showed us the way of our hearts in the
world !
Who gave us the law of family,
The law of tribe,
30 THE ACORN-PLANTER
The law of totem,
And made us strong in the world among men !
(While the PEOPLE sing the hillside slowly
grows dark)
ACT I
ACT I
(Ten thousand years have passed, and it is
the time of the early voyaging from Eu
rope to the waters of the Pacific , when the
deserted hillside is again revealed as the
moon rises. The stream no longer flows
from the spring. Since the grove is used
only as a camp for the night when the
Nishinam are on their seasonal migra
tion, there are no signs of previous
camps.)
(Enter from right, at end of day's march,
women, old men, and SHAMAN, the
women bending under their burdens of
camp gear and dunnage.)
(Enter from left youths carrying fish-spears
and large fish.)
(Appear, coming down the hillside, RED
CLOUD and the hunters, many carrying
meat.)
(The various repeated characters, despite
differences of skin garmenting and decor a-
D 33
34 THE ACORN-PLANTER
tion, resemble their prototypes of the pro
logue.)
RED CLOUD
Good hunting ! Good hunting !
HUNTERS
Good hunting ! Good hunting I
YOUTHS
Good fishing ! Good fishing !
WOMEN
Good berries ! Good acorns !
( The women and youths and hunters, as they
reach the camp-site, begin throwing down
their burdens.)
DEW-WOMAN
(Discovering the dry spring.)
The water no longer flows !
SHAMAN
(Stilling the excitement that is immediate
on the discovery.)
The word of old time that has come down to
us from all the Shamans who have gone before !
The Sun Man has come back from the Sun.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 35
DEW-WOMAN
(Looking to RED CLOUD.)
Let Red Cloud speak. Since the morning of
the world has Red Cloud ever been reborn with
the ancient wisdom to guide us.
WAR CHIEF
Save in war. In war I command.
(He picks out hunters by name.)
Deer Foot . . . Elk Man . . . Antelope. Run
through the forest, climb the hill-tops, seek down
the valleys, for aught you may find of this Sun
Man.
(At a wave of the WAR CHIEF'S hand the
three hunters depart in different direc
tions.)
DEW-WOMAN
Let Red Cloud speak his mind.
RED CLOUD
(Quietly.)
Last night the earth shook and there was a
roaring in the air. Often have I seen, when the
earth shakes and there is a roaring, that springs
in some places dry up, and that in other places
where were no springs, springs burst forth.
36 THE ACORN-PLANTER
SHAMAN
There is a sign.
The Shamans told it of old.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
The Sun Man will bear the thunder in his hand.
SHAMAN
The roaring in the air was the thunder of the
Sun Man's return. Now will he destroy the
Nishinam. Such is the word.
WAR CHIEF
Hoh! Hoh!
(From right DEER FOOT runs in.)
DEER FOOT
(Breathless.)
They come ! He comes !
WAR CHIEF
Who comes?
DEER FOOT
The Sun Men. The Sun Man. He is their
chief. He marches before them. And he is
white.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 37
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
The Sun Man is white.
RED CLOUD
Carries he the thunder in his hand?
DEER FOOT
(Puzzled)
He looks hungry.
WAR CHIEF
Hoh! Hoh! The Sun Man is hungry. It
will be easy to kill a hungry Sun Man.
RED CLOUD
It would be easy to be kind to a hungry Sun
Man and give him food. We have much. The
hunting has been good.
WAR CHIEF
Better to kill the Sun Man.
(He turns upon PEOPLE, indicating most
commands in gestures as he prepares the
ambush, making women and boys con
ceal all the camp outfit and game, and
38 THE ACORN-PLANTER
disposing the armed hunters among the
ferns and behind trees till all are hidden.)
ELK MAN and ANTELOPE
(Running down hillside.)
The Sun Man comes.
(WAR CHIEF sends them to hiding places.)
WAR CHIEF
(Preparing himself to hide.)
You have not hidden, O Red Cloud.
RED CLOUD
(Stepping into shadow of big tree where he
remains inconspicuous though dimly
visible.)
I would see this Sun Man and talk with him.
(The sound of singing is heard, and WAR
CHIEF conceals himself.)
(SuN MAN, with handful of followers, sing
ing to ease the tedium of the march, enter
from right. They are patently survivors
of a wrecked exploring ship, making their
way inland.)
THE ACORN-PLANTER 39
SONG OF THE SEA CUNIES
SUN MEN
We sailed three hundred strong
For the far Barbaree ;
Our voyage has been most long
For the far Barbaree ;
So — it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
We sailed the oceans wide
For the coast of Barbaree ;
And left our ship a sinking
On the coast of Barbaree ;
So — it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
Our ship went fast a-lee
On the rocks of Barbaree ;
That's why we quit the sea
On the rocks of Barbaree.
So — it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
40 THE ACORN-PLANTER
We quit the bitter seas
On the coast of Barbaree ;
To seek the savag-ees
Of the far Barbaree.
So — it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
Our feet are lame and sore
In the far Barbaree ;
From treading of the shore
Of the far Barbaree.
So — it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
A weary brood are we
In the far Barbaree ;
Sea cunies of the sea
In the far Barbaree.
So — it's a long pull,
Give a strong pull,
For the far Barbaree.
SUN MAN
(Who alone carries a musket, and who is
evidently captain of the wrecked com
pany?)
THE ACORN-PLANTER 41
No farther can we go this night. Mayhap
to-morrow we may find the savages and food.
(He glances about.)
This far world grows noble trees. We shall sleep
as in a temple.
FIRST SEA CUNY
(Espying RED CLOUD, and pointing.)
Look, Captain !
SUN MAN
(Making the universal peace-sign, arm
raised and out, palm-outward.)
Who are you? Speak. We come in peace.
We kindness seek.
RED CLOUD
(Advancing out of the shadow)
Whence do you come?
SUN MA*N
From the great sea.
RED CLOUD
I do not understand. No one journeys
on the great sea.
42 THE ACORN-PLANTER
SUN MAN
We have journeyed many moons.
RED CLOUD
Have you come from the sun?
SUN MAN
God wot! We have journeyed across the
sun, high and low in the sky, and over the sun
and under the sun the round world 'round.
RED CLOUD
(With conviction.)
You come from the Sun. Your hair is like
the summer sunburnt grasses. Your eyes are
blue. Your skin is white.
(With absolute conviction.)
You are the Sun Man.
SUN MAN
(With a shrug of shoulders.)
Have it so. I come from the Sun. I am the
Sun Man.
RED CLOUD
Do you carry the thunder in your hand?
THE ACORN-PLANTER 43
SUN MAN
(Nonplussed for the moment, glances at
his musket, then smiles}
Yes, I carry the thunder in my hand.
(WAR CHIEF and the HUNTERS leap
suddenly from ambush. SUN MAN
warns SEA CUNIES not to resist. WAR
CHIEF captures and holds SUN MAN,
and SEA CUNIES are similarly captured
and held. Women and boys appear, and
examine prisoners curiously.)
WAR CHIEF
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh ! I have captured the
Sun Man ! Like the foxes, I have captured
the Sun Man ! — Deer Foot ! Elk Man ! The
foxes held the Sun Man. I now hold the Sun
Man. Then can you hold the Sun Man.
(DEER FOOT and ELK MAN seize the SUN
MAN.)
RED CLOUD
(To SHAMAN.)
He said he came in kindness.
44 THE ACORN-PLANTER
WAR CHIEF
(Sneering.)
In kindness, with the thunder in his hand.
SHAMAN
(Deflected to partisanship of WAR CHIEF
by WAR CHIEF'S success.)
By his own lips has he said it, with the thunder
in his hand.
WAR CHIEF
You are the Sun Man.
SUN MAN
(Shrugging shoulders.)
My names are many as the stars. Call me
White Man.
RED CLOUD
I am Red Cloud, the first man.
SUN MAN
Then am I Adam, the first man and your
brother.
(Glancing about.)
And this is Eden, to look upon it.
RED CLOUD
My father was the Coyote.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 45
SUN MAN
My father was Jehovah.
RED CLOUD
I am the Fire-Bringer. I stole the fire from
the ground squirrel and hid it in the heart of
the wood.
SUN MAN
Then am I Prometheus, your brother. I
stole the fire from heaven and hid it in the heart
of the wood.
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?)
Also am I the Weaver and Cloth-Maker.
(Holding out arm so that RED CLOUD may
examine the cloth of the coat?)
46 THE ACORN-PLANTER
From the hair of the goat and the wool of
the sheep, and from beaten and spun grasses,
do I make the cloth to keep man warm.
SHAMAN
(Breaking in boastfully?)
I am the Shaman. I know all secret things.
SUN MAN
I know my pathway under the sun over all
the seas, and I know the secrets of the stars
that show me my path where no path is. I
know when the Wolf of Darkness shall eat the
moon.
(Pointing toward moon?)
On this night shall the Wolf of Darkness eat
the moon.
(He turns suddenly to RED CLOUD,
drawing sheath-knife and passing it
to him.)
More, O First Man and Acorn-Planter. I am
the Iron-Maker. Behold !
(RED CLOUD examines knife, understands
immediately its virtue, cuts easily a strip
of skin from his skin garment, and is
overcome with the wonder of the knife?)
THE ACORN-PLANTER 47
WAR CHIEF
(Exhibiting a long bow.)
I am the War Chief. No man, save me, has
strength to bend this bow. I can slay farther
than any man.
(A huge bear has come out among the
bushes far up the hillside)
SUN MAN
I, too, am War Chief over men, and I can
slay farther than you.
WAR CHIEF
Hoh! Hoh!
SUN MAN
(Pointing to bear.)
Can you slay that with your strong bow?
WAR CHIEF
(Dubiously.)
It is a far shot. Too far. No man can slay
a great bear so far.
(SuN MAN, shaking off from his arms the
hands of DEER FOOT and ELK MAN,
aims musket and fires. The bear falls,
and the Nishinam betray astonishment
and awe.)
48 THE ACORN-PLANTER
(At a quick signal from WAR CHIEF,
SUN MAN is again seized. WAR CHIEF
takes away musket and examines it.)
SHAMAN
There is a sign.
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
He carries the thunder in his hand.
He slays with the thunder in his hand.
He is the enemy of the Nishinam.
He will destroy the Nishinam.
SHAMAN
There is a sign.
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
In the day the Sun Man comes,
The waters from the spring will no longer flow,
And in that day will he destroy the Nishinam.
WAR CHIEF
(Exhibiting musket.)
Hoh! Hoh! I have taken the Sun Man's
thunder.
SHAMAN
Now shall the Sun Man die that the Nishinam
may live.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 49
RED CLOUD
He is our brother. He, too, is an acorn-
planter. He has spoken.
SHAMAN
He is the Sun Man, and he is our eternal
enemy. He shall die.
WAR CHIEF
In war I command.
(To HUNTERS.)
Tie their feet with stout thongs that they
may not run. And then make ready with bow
and arrow to do the deed.
(HUNTERS obey, urging and thrusting the
SEA CUNIES into a compact group be
hind the SUN MAN.)
RED CLOUD
Shaman I am not.
I know not the secret things.
I say the things I know.
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.
50 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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.)
You will slay us ?
RED CLOUD
(Indicating WAR CHIEF.)
In war he commands.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 51
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 broth
ers 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.
(As final preparation for the killing is
completed, and as HUNTERS are ar
ranged with their bows and arrows,
SUN MAN sings.)
SONG OF THE BROTHERS
SUN MAN
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands ;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
52 THE ACORN-PLANTER
SUN MEN
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
SUN MAN
Givers of law, our brothers,
This is the law they say :
Who takes the life of a brother
Ten of the slayers shall pay.
SUN MEN
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands ;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
SUN MAN
Our brothers will come after
By the courses that we lay ;
Many and strong our brothers,
Masters of life are they.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 53
SUN MEN
Our brothers will come after
On our trail to farthest lands ;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
SUN MAN
Flowers of land, our brothers,
Of the hills and pleasant leas ;
Under the sun our brothers
With their keels will plow the seas.
SUN MEN
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
54 THE ACORN-PLANTER
SUN MAN
Mighty men are our brothers,
Quick to forgive and to wrath,
Sailing the seas, our brothers
Will follow us on our path.
SUN MEN
Our brothers will come after,
On our trail to farthest lands ;
Our brothers will come after
With the thunder in their hands.
Loud will be the weeping,
Red will be the reaping,
High will be the heaping
Of the slain their law commands.
(At signal from WAR CHIEF the arrows
are discharged, and repeatedly dis
charged. The SUN MEN fall. The WAR
CHIEF himself kills the SUN MAN.)
(In what follows, RED CLOUD and DEW-
WOMAN stand aside, taking no part.
RED CLOUD is depressed, and at the
same time is overcome with the wonder
of the knife which he still holds.)
THE ACORN-PLANTER 55
WAR CHIEF
(Brandishing musket and drifting stiff-
legged, as he sings, into the beginning
of a war dance of victory.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I have slain the Sun Man !
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I hold his thunder in my hand !
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
Greatest of War Chiefs am I !
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I have slain the Sun Man !
( The dance grows wilder.)
(After a time the hillside begins to darken.)
DEW-WOMAN
(Pointing to the moon entering eclipse.)
Lo ! The Wolf of Darkness eats the Moon !
(In consternation the dance is broken off
for the moment.)
SHAMAN
(Reassuringly.)
It is a sign.
The Sun Man is dead.
56 THE ACORN-PLANTER
WAR CHIEF
(Recovering courage and resuming dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead !
PEOPLE
(Resuming dance.)
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man is dead !
(As darkness increases the dance grows
into a saturnalia, until complete dark
ness settles down and hides the hillside.)
ACT II
ACT II
(A hundred years have passed, when the
hillside and the Nishinam in their tem
porary camp are revealed. The spring
is flowing, and Women are filling gourds
with water. RED CLOUD and DEW-
WOMAN stand apart from their people.)
SHAMAN
(Pointing.)
There is a sign.
The spring lives.
The water flows from the spring
And all is well with the Nishinam.
PEOPLE
There is a sign.
The spring lives.
The water flows from the spring.
WAR CHIEF
(Boastingly.)
Hoh! Koh! Hoh!
All is well with the Nishinam.
59
60 THE ACORN-PLANTER
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
It is I who have made all well with the Nishi-
nam.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
I led our young men against the Napa.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
We left no man living of the camp.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
SHAMAN
Great is our War Chief !
Good is war !
No more will the Napa hunt our meat.
No more will the Napa pick our berries.
No more will the Napa catch our fish.
PEOPLE
No more will the Napa hunt our meat.
No more will the Napa pick our berries.
No more will the Napa catch our fish.
WAR CHIEF
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The War Chiefs before me made all well with
the Nishinam.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 6l
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The War Chief of long ago slew the Sun Man.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man said his brothers would come
after.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man lied.
PEOPLE
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man lied.
Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!
The Sun Man lied.
SHAMAN
(Derisively.)
Red Cloud is sick. He lives in dreams. Ever
he dreams of the wonders of the Sun Man.
RED CLOUD
The Sun Man was strong. The Sun Man was
a life-maker. 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 ?
62 THE ACORN-PLANTER
OLD MAN
(Fumbling in his skin pouch for the cloth.)
In the many moons aforetime,
Hundred moons and many hundred,
When the old man was the young man,
When the young man was the youngling,
Dragging branches for the campure,
Stealing suet from the bear-meat,
Cause of trouble to his mother,
Came the Sun Man in the night-time.
I alone of all the Nishinam
Live to-day to tell the story ;
I alone of all the Nishinam
Saw the Sun Man come among us,
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.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 63
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 !
64 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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,
THE ACORN-PLANTER 65
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.
F
66 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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
04$ 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.)
THE ACORN-PLANTER 67
(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 Cali
fornia 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,
68 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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,
THE ACORN-PLANTER 69
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,
Heigh hi, heigh ho,
And found this mighty forest
An hour or so ago.
SUN MAN
(Glancing about at the slain and at the giant
forest.)
70 THE ACORN-PLANTER
Good the day, good the deed, and good this
California land.
RED CLOUD
Not with these eyes, but with other eyes in my
lives before, have I beheld you. You are the
Sun Man.
(The attention of all is drawn to RED
CLOUD, and they group about him and the
SUN MAN.)
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.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 71
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 com
mand. 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.
72 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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.
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 ACORN-PLANTER 73
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 shining was the Sun Man,
Blue his eyes were as the sky-blue,
Bright his hair was as dry grass 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 grasses 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.
74 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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.
THE ACORN-PLANTER 75
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 grass 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
76 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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
grass
Grew sparse 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;
THE ACORN-PLANTAR 77
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 pass.
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
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,
G 81
82 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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 83
The Acorn-Planter !
We sang that War would die,
The anarch of our wild and wayward past.
We sang our brothers would come after,
Turning desert into garden,
Sowing friendship, and not hatred,
Planting seeds instead of dead men,
Growing men to manhood in the sun.
(A band of HUSBANDMEN appear, bearing
fruit and sheaves of grain and corn.)
HUSBANDMEN
Hail, Red Cloud !
The first planter !
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.
84 THE ACORN-PLANTER
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.
Ever they plant for life,
For life more abundant,
For beauty of head and hand,
For the voices of children playing,
And the laughter of maids in the twilight
And the lover's song in the gloom.
ALL VOICES
Hail, Red Cloud!
The first planter !
The Acorn-Planter !
The maker of life !
Hail! All hail!
The New Day dawns,
The day of brotherhood,
The day of man !
THE END
Printed in the United States of America.
"PHE following pages contain advertisements
of Macmillan books by the same author
V
The Little Lady of the Big House
BY JACK LONDON
Price $1.50
In this story of a woman whose life is shaped by
a great love, Mr. London adds at least three charac
ters to his already notable list of literary portraits —
Dick Forrest, master of broad acres, a man of intel
lect, training, and wealth ; Paula, his wife, young,
attractive, bound up in her husband and his affairs ;
and Evan Graham, traveled, of easy manners and in
gratiating personality, a sort of Prince Charming.
The problem comes with Graham's entrance into
the Forrest family circle and it is a problem that
must be solved.
The Star Rover
JACK LONDON'S MOST DARING NOVEL
Cloth, frontispiece in colors, I2mo, $1.50
" But the artistic triumph of * The Star Rover ' is
in its new use of the reincarnation idea. It is upon
this that the author has lavished his best work, car
rying it through with a skill and plausibility that win
the reader. Jack London has done something origi
nal in ' The Star Rover ' and done it supremely well."
— New York Times.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York
JACK LONDON'S WRITINGS
THE SCARLET PLAGUE Decorated cloth, illustrated jsnto, $z.oo
The relapse of civilization into barbarism is a theme which, as those fa
miliar with Mr. London's style will at once see, is admirably suited to his
powers as a novelist.
" Mr. London has never done a truer or more consistent piece of imag
inative work." — The Outlook.
THE MUTINY OF THE ELSINORE
Decorated cloth, illustrated, I2mo, $1.35
Mr. London is here writing of scenes and types of people with which he
is very familiar, the sea and ships and sailors. In addition to the adventure
element, of which there is an abundance of a most satisfying kind, there is a
thread of romance involving a wealthy young man who takes the trip on the
Elsinore and the captain's daugher.
" Strong characterizations and a splendid picture of indomitable sailing-
masters." — Springfield Republican.
THE STRENGTH OF THE STRONG
Decorated cloth, frontispiece, $/.2j
" The Strength of the Strong " is a collection of short stories containing
some of Jack London's best work. Besides the title piece there are six tales :
South of the Slot, The Unparalleled Invasion, The Enemy of all the World,
The Dream of Debs, The Sea Farmer, and Samuel. They are representative
London stories — his most mature and interesting work — startlingly original
as to theme and masterly as to treatment.
ADVENTURE
Decorated cloth, illustrated, $/.jo/ Fiction Library, $0.50
A thrilling absorbing tale of rapid and exciting plot, with lots of excite
ment, no little humor and considerable sentiment. It is written with a sure
and ready hand, and is altogether a remarkable piece of imaginative writing.
BURNING DAYLIGHT Decorated cloth, illustrated, I2mo, $7.50
Fiction Library Edition,
" A gripping story of Millions and a Maid." — New York Herald.
THE VALLEY OF THE MOON
Decorated cloth, frontispiece in colors,
" The most wholesome, the most interesting, the most acceptable book
that Mr. London has written."— The Dial.
" Read ' The Valley of the Moon.' Once begin it and you can't let it
alone until you have finished it. ... ' The Valley of the Moon ' is that kind
of a book." — Pittsburgh Post.
MARTIN EDEN Cloth, izmo, $1.50
" The story possesses substance, form, vigor, and vitality as does every
thing that Mr. London writes. It is filled with the wine of life, with a life
that Mr. London has himself lived, and to which he never wearies of giving
every part of himself." — Boston Evening Transcript.
THE HOUSE OF PRIDE Decorated cloth, illustrated, ismo, $1.20
Honolulu, Molokai, the Lepers' Island, and others of the Hawaiian
group afford splendid setting for the tales.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York
JACK LONDON'S WRITINGS
WHEN GOD LAUGHS Decorated cloth, izmo, illustrated, $r.jo
It is doubtful if anything will ever be written that will do as much toward
making known and felt the awful process of destruction resulting from child-
labor as will this one comparatively brief sketch.
THE CRUISE OF THE SNARK
Decorated cloth, illustrated, Svo, $2.0O
An exhilarating story of one of the most adventurous voyages ever
planned — the passage of the Snark around the world.
THE CALL OF THE WILD
Decorated cloth, illustrated in colors, $JJO
" A big story in sober English, and with thorough art in the construction;
a wonderfully perfect bit of work; a book that will be heard of long. The
dog's adventures are as exciting as any man's exploits could be, and Mr.
London's workmanship is wholly satisfying." — The New York Sun.
THE SEA-WOLF Decorated cloth, illustrated in colors, $rjO
" Jack London's ' The Sea- Wolf ' is marvelpusly truthful. . . , Read
ing it through at a sitting, we have found it poignantly interesting; ... a
superb piece of craftsmanship." — The New York Tribune.
WHITE FANG Decorated cloth, illustrated in colors, $1.50
" A thrilling story of adventure . . . stirring indeed . . . and it touches
a chord of tenderness that is all too rare in Mr. London's work." — Record-
Herald, Chicago.
BEFORE ADAM Decorated cloth, illustrated in colors, $r.jo
" The marvel of it is not in the story itself, but in the audacity of the
man who undertook such a task as the writing of it. ... From an artistic
standpoint the book is an undoubted success. And it is no less a success
from the standpoint of the reader who seeks to be entertained." — The Plain
Dealer, Cleveland.
THE IRON HEEL Decorated cloth, $1.50
" Power is certainly the keynote of this book. Every word tingles with
it. It is a great book, one that deserves to be read and pondered. ... It
contains a mighty lesson and a most impressive warning." — Indianapolis
News.
REVOLUTION Cloth, I2mo, $1.50 ; Standard Library Edition, $O.JO
" Here is a field wherein London is entirely at home, and the narrative
radiates with picturesque description and vivid characterization." — Brook*
lyn Daily Eagle.
THE WAR OF THE CLASSES
Cloth, izmo. $1.50; Standard Library Edition, $0.30
" Mr. London's book is thoroughly interesting, and Mr. London's point
of view is, as may be surmised, very different from that of the closet the
orist." — Springfield Republican.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York
JACK LONDON'S WRITINGS
PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS Cloth, illustrated, $i.So
" This life has been pictured many times before — complacently and
soothingly by Professor Walter A. Wyckoff, luridly by Mr. Stead, scientific
ally by Mr. Charles Booth. But Mr. London alone has made it real and
present to us." — The Independent.
THE ROAD Cloth, izmo, illustrated, $2.00
A literal record of life among tramps, of travel from end to end of the
country.
JACK LONDON'S SHORT STORIES
THE GAME Each, cloth, ismo, illustrated, $r.jo
A Transcript from Real Life.
" It is told with such a glow of imaginative illusion, with such intense
dramatic vigor, with such effective audacity of phrase, that it almost seems
as if the author's appeal was to the bodily eye as much as to the inner men
tality, and that the events are actually happening before the reader." — New
York Herald.
CHILDREN OP THE FROST
" Told with something of that same vigorous and honest manliness and
indifference with which Mr. Kipling makes unbegging yet direct and unfail
ing appeal to the sympathy of his reader." — Richmond Despatch.
THE FAITH OF MEN
" Mr. London's art as a story-teller nowhere manifests more strongly
than in the swift, dramatic close of his stories. There is no hesitancy or un
certainty of touch. From the start the story moves straight to the inevitable
conclusion." — Courier-Journal.
MOON FACE
" Each of the stories is unique in its individual way, weird and uncanny,
and told in Mr. London's vigorous, compelling style." — Interior.
TALES OF THE FISH PATROL
" That they are vividly told, hardly need be said, for Jack London is a
realist as well as a writer of thrilling romances." — Cleveland Plain Dealer.
LOVE OF LIFE
" Jack London is at his best with the short story . . . clear-cut, sharp,
incisive with the tang of the frost in it." — Record-Herald, Chicago.
LOST FACE
The stories are strong and robust and the characterizations are not fanci
ful creations, but the actual happenings of an existence which the author has
lived and now vividly describes.
SOUTH SEA TALES Decorated cloth, i2mo, illustrated, $1.25
Jack London's stories of the South Seas have a sense of reality about
them which prove that he has been on the ground and has himself taken part
in the combats, physical and mental, which he describes.
PLAYS BY JACK LONDON
THEFT $1.25 | SCORN OF WOMEN $1.25
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York
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Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
'SEP 71982
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KC.C1L SEP 7 '82
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UNIV. OF CALIF,
JERK.
JAN 2 7 1990
JKIIB DEC G &**•
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DEC 0 9 1998
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 12/80 BERKELEY, CA 94720
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