The Arrow-Maker: A Drama in Three Acts

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 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.

The way in which it is worn betrays the state of his mind as does no other garment. It is drawn up, shrugged off, swung from one shoulder, or completely shrouds the figure according as his mood runs, or it is folded neatly about the body to get it out of the way of his arms when he has need of them. Blankets would be worn to Council, but not going to battle. They would be worn by young and modest women on public occasions, but by old women only for warmth and protection. They are also worn as an advertisement of the desire for privacy.

When an Indian is seen completely shrouded in his blanket, standing or sitting a little apart from the camp, he either has a grouch or he is praying. In either case it is not good manners to interrupt him.

As far as possible the use of the blanket is indicated in the text. Always it may be safely taken as an indication of the wearer's attitude toward whatever is going on about him.