1706 The Cornell Reaimng Courses 



SCENARIO 



When the scene opens, a group of boys arc shootini^ bows and arrows 

 at a target under the instruction of an old Indian, Black Wolf, who is 

 chipping arrowheads on a tree stump near-by. Three or four boys are 

 playing in canoes at the water's edge, and one of them is teasing a group 

 of small girls who arc busy with their dolls and cradle boards. An older 

 girl is making more dolls for them from a pile of com shucks, and a woman 

 is making a mat of the same stuff. Under a big tree to the right is a group 

 of women and girls kneading and coiling clay into jars, and others making 

 baskets of willow and rafha. A big iron kettle is hanging over a fire of 

 hickory wood, and women and girls are making an appetizing soup. 



Just then a shout is raised by the small boys who, in searching for arrows, 

 have spied their fathers and brothers returning from the hunt. This 

 party approaches in a few moments with game, a deer and some rabbits, 

 and the women rush to their work of caring for it. While some begin 

 to dress the skins, others cut up the meat, disposing of it for immediate 

 or future use. Before this work is completed two men come down the lake 

 in a canoe and land with their good string of fish, which are taken by 

 a young girl, who deftly prepares them for cooking. The men, both the 

 young and the old, settle down to rest from their labors and to talk, while 

 the women are busy over the food supply. 



■ Meanwhile, in front of the Iroquois long house, a matron. Glory of the 

 Morning, has returned to her sewing, which she had left with undisguised 

 reluctance when the hunters came in with their game. She picks up the 

 buckskin shirt, which she is embroidering with beads, and quickly becomes 

 unconscious of her neighbors. She looks eagerly and frequently up the 

 lake, and is evidently watching and listening for the approach of a canoe. 

 She notices that her boy. Red Wing, has returned from a hunting quest 

 of his own during her absence, for a quarry of squirrels lie there at the 

 door. Now seeing her, he returns, picks them up with pride to show 

 her. After an enthusiastic account of his hunting, little Red Wing talks 

 of Black Wolf, the old medicine man, and of his grandfather, Big Canoe. 

 Glory of the Morning tells him that Black Wolf has been telling her a 

 story that morning of his dream that Half Moon, Red Wing's French 

 father, is coming back. She is very happy over it and still watches and 

 listens for his canoe, even while she talks. But Red Wing is stolidly 

 indifferent. He has only contempt for Half Moon, who, though a rich 

 trader and kind father, is not an Iroquois Indian like his mother and grand- 

 father. Just then, Oak Leaf, a fair-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned 

 maiden, dressed like the other Indian maids, comes running to the lodge 

 followed by Black Wolf, who carries a calumet on which he has been 

 binding sacred eagle feathers. She, too, has heard from Black Wolf of 



