IV
There, also, the tribes of the Red Men dance the images of man’s life: the Fertilization of the Fields, they dance; the upgrowing of the Corn; and the Summer, and the Winter, which are the seasons of life.
Behold, the Musicians of Summer, the Indian Musicians, chanting!
Yellow and blue are the colors of the drums, whereto the dancers dance——
The Dancers of Summer, crested with iridescent feathers, like the many colors of flowers,
Crested with wisps of featherdown, like the cloud-breaths of summer winds in the blue bowl of Heaven....
Is not blue the color of the South, whence the Summer cometh?
Is not the resplendent Sun robed in shining yellow?
Twain are the Seasons of the Year, as they dance alternating:
The Summer advances dancing, and it recedes;
The Winter advances dancing, and it recedes....
Twain also are the divisions of men, as they dance in alternation.
Behold, the Musicians of Winter, the Indian Musicians, chanting!
Red and green are the colors of their drums, whereto their dancers dance——
The Dancers of Winter, their bodies with red earth many-symboled,
in their hands the cypress-green rhythmically waving....
Is not the bare earth red, where it gleams between the snows?
Are not the snow-bent brows of the cypress Wintergreen?
Twain are the Great Seasons, as they dance the Year, alternating;
Twain also are the divisions of men where they dance the Life of the World——
Male and female they dance, twofold in each division,——
verily, as the Year is twofold in each division....
Particolored their drums, where they dance, particolored their festal costumes;
Their voices they uplift in song, in the Song of the Color Mixer,
singing Him who apportioneth all,
who adorneth the World in Beauty,
who maketh all perfect in Beauty!
Here followeth the Song of the Color Mixer, who createth the World with the music of his drum, who painteth the Year with his light.
“Shining in four Times,
Shining in four Directions,——
Thus the Color Mixer hath created it!
“First is the blue——
The little clouds that float up from the South,
These are the breaths of Spring!
“Thereafter, the green——
All the Earth waveth with green-verdant feathers
Where the Summer Sun cometh forth, radiant in the East!
“Red-yellow is the third color——
In the West the mountains of Autumn are variegated,——
Red earth and yellow, red berries and yellow!
“White also is a color——
Many times it is shadowed with blue,
As if the Wintry North were remembering Spring!
“These make up the Year,
These make up the World,——
Thus the Color Mixer hath created it!”
V
The Tribes of the Red Men rejoice in their fields, thinking with thankfulness of the Cloud Spirits which have caused the Goodness of Life to descend, and of the Rainbow Woman who hath woven the colors of her body into the several-colored maize, and of the Corn Maidens, with the pollen-hued butterflies at their lips.
Behold, the Tribes, where they rejoice in the bounties of the harvest!
Men and women are there, and youths, laughter-loving;
Mothers are there, and children merry of limb;
The friendly animals are there, the sport-eager dog, the burro, burden-bearing.
Many songs are sung in the midst of the maize-fields;
Many colors gleam where the people move to and fro,
Where they gather the sheathéd ears, the ears hard-ripened,
Where they gather the crispéd maize, gleaning the several colors.
Many the songs that are sung, and many the altars made precious
With gift of well-drilled bead, with polished talisman,
With fields of waving feathers bearing the plume-winged prayers,
Where from the terraced Bowl the sacred meal is scattered....
While the harvesters bethink them,
Singing, where the maize they gather,
Of the dancing Cloud-born Women,
Of the Maidens of the Mist-Foam,
Of the Daughters of the Sunbeams,
Of the shining Rainbow-Mother
In her stripes of many colors,
Like the corn of many colors....
The Song of the Rainbow Woman, whose body archeth the Fields of Life, is on the lips of the Harvesters.
“The Woman who dwells in the Place of Mists,
The Woman who appears in dissolvent skies,
Her body is very slender and luminous,
Her hands touch the extremity of the Earth,
Her feet touch softly upon the Earth!
“Adorned is her body with many and beautiful colors,
With the green of tender grass it is adorned,
With the blue of feathery lupine it is adorned,
With the red of glowing cactus,
With the yellow of bright pollen....
“Daughter Corn is likewise adorned with colors,
Blue corn there is and red corn,
Yellow corn there is and white corn:
All corn grows upon the bladed green,
Touched by the luminous sunlight, watered by crystal dews....
“The Woman who dwells in the Place of Mists,
Arching the caverns of the clouds,
Arching the Earth with Beauty!
Bride she is of the luminous Sun,——
Their offspring is corn of all colors!”
VI
The colors of the World’s Quarters and the colors of the Year are united in the Land itself, to paint the walks of Man’s Life with beauty.
Thus speaketh that Land where the colors are gathered together,
Thus singeth the Heart of Man in the shining land of the mesas,
Where he watcheth the Weavers of Rain spin and pattern their fabrics,
Where Earth lifteth terraced hills and the Heavens are terraced with glories!
Four are the Hills of the Life of Man,
Four are the steps of Earth’s terraced Bowl,
Its corners are keyed with Heaven above,
Its Pattern of old was made whole—
in that Land where man walketh in Beauty,
in that Land where man dreameth in Beauty!