. . .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 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, . . . Read More