The little country theaterArvold, Alfred G. (Alfred Gilmeiden)
General
The little country theater
Arvold, Alfred G. (Alfred Gilmeiden)
Little Country Theater (Fargo, N.D.); Little theater movement; Theater -- North Dakota -- Fargo
An Indian drama called, “Sitting Bull-Custer,” written by an Episcopal
priest, now a judge in Sioux County, told the story of the Redman’s
version of the Custer Massacre. It was presented on a Dacotah prairie
at sunset, seven years ago. The scene represented an Indian village on
the Little Big Horn River. It was dawn, June twenty-fifth, eighteen
hundred and seventy six. A thick clump of trees, in which the Indian
characters, Echonka, Gall, Rain-in-the-Face, Old-man, Old-woman,
and Old-Woman-Diviner were hidden, furnished the background. There,
secluded as spies, they anxiously awaited the arrival of Sitting Bull,
believing that he would unfold valuable secrets in regard to the coming
battle. Fool-mink, an Indian story teller and singer, the comedian of
the play, was everywhere present. He sang and he danced. His music
irritated Rain-in-the-Face, because it reminded him of the time Tom
Custer handcuffed him. In several sharp encounters which ensued between
Fool-Mink and Rain-in-the-Face, Gall acted as the peace-maker. Silence
reigned. Sitting Bull arrived. He looked at the dawn wistfully, started
a fire, and sat down beside it. He spoke with rapid tongue. He told the
story of the Redman, the most misunderstood creature on earth. He gave
the reason why his race feared the white man—he wanted to be left alone
and have food to eat. He foretold the battle. Suddenly his body became as
rigid as a statue. Mid pauses, he spoke in a far-away ghostly voice.
“Great Custer speaks. I hear him say,
Brave action crushes calumny.
No lies can crush a glittering fact,
If man, ignoring self, will act.
I’m not a man without a flaw,
What man has not his foibles? Pshaw!
Courtmartial me! For what? To blight
My name! I swear, by yonder light
Of morning, I’ve no serious wrong!
The truth will flame abroad ere long.
Their teeth shall bite the dust to-day,
A soldier’s grave can sing a lay
Of praise, while foibles dare not peep,
And those who twisted foibles sleep
Forgotten. They suppose I shrink
From death as they do. As they think
They judge me. Open your sweet jaws,
Brave death, and swallowing petty flaws,
Make Custer’s rightful honor bright
And clean, as youthful morning light!
To die! To die gives them the shame,
And me, I ask no word of fame,
Save this,—that ere I slept in dust.
He pauses, waves his lifted hand,
He’s beckoning toward the spirit land.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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