Uk:
Be still!
(Turning to the woman behind him)
Thou seest that they become still. None save me can make his kind be still, except perhaps the chief of the apes, when in the night he deems he hears a serpent… At whom dost thou stare so long? At Oan? Oan, come to me!
Oan:
I am thy cub.
Uk:
Oan, thou art a fool!
Ok and Un:
Ho! ho! Oan is a fool!
All the Tribe:
Ho! ho! Oan is a fool!
Oan:
Why am I a fool?
Uk:
Dost thou not chant strange words? Last night I heard thee chant strange words at the mouth of thy cave.
Oan:
Ay! they are marvellous words; they were born within me in the dark.
Uk:
Art thou a woman, that thou shouldst bring forth? Why dost thou not sleep when it is dark?
Oan:
I did half sleep; perhaps I dreamed.
Uk:
And why shouldst thou dream, not having had more than thy portion of flesh? Hast thou slain a deer in the forest and brought it not to the Stone?
All the Tribe:
Wa! Wa! He hath slain in the forest, and brought not the meat to the Stone!
Uk:
Be still, ye!
(To Ala )
Thou seest that they become still… Oan, hast thou slain and kept to thyself?
Oan:
Nay, thou knowest that I am not apt at the chase. Also it irks me to squat on a branch all day above a path, bearing a rock upon my thighs. Those words did but awaken within me when I was peaceless in the night.
Uk:
And why wast thou peaccless in the night?
Oan:
Thy mate wept, for that thou didst heat her.
Uk:
Ay! she lamented loudly. But thou shalt make thy half-sleep henceforth at the mouth of the cave, so that when Gurr the tiger cometh, thou shalt hear him sniff between the boulders, and shalt strike the flints, whose stare he hatest. Gurr cometh nightly to the caves.
One of the Tribe:
Ay! Gurr smelleth the Stone!
Uk:
Be still!
(To Ala )
Had he not become still, Ok and Un would have beaten him with their clubs… But, Oan, tell us those words that were born to thee when Ala did weep.
Oan (arising):
They are wonderful words. They are such:
The bright day is gone-
Uk:
Now I see thou art liar as well as fooclass="underline" behold, the day is not gone!
Oan:
But the day was gone in that hour when my song was born to me.
Uk:
Then shouldst thou have sung it only at that time, and not when it is yet day. But beware lest thou awaken me in the night. Make thou many stars, that they fly in the whiskers of Gurr.
Oan:
My song is even of stars.
Uk:
It was Ul, thy father's wont, ere I slew him with four great stones, to climb to the tops of the tallest trees and reach forth his hand, to see if he might not pluck a star. But I said: "Perhaps they be as chestnut-burs." And all the tribe did laugh. Ul was also a fool. But what dost thou sing of stars?
Oan:
I will begin again:
The bright day is gone.
The night maketh me sad, sad, sad-
Uk:
Nay, the night maketh thee sad; not sad, sad, sad. For when I say to Ala, "Gather thou dried leaves," I say not, "Gather thou dried leaves, leaves, leaves." Thou art a fool!
Ok and Un:
Thou art a fool!
All the Tribe:
Thou art a fool!
Uk:
Yea, he is a fool. But say on, Oan, and tell us of thy chestnut-burs.
Oan:
I will begin again:
The bright day is gone-
Uk:
Thou dost not say, "gone, gone, gone!"
Oan:
I am thy cub. Suffer that I speak: so shall the tribe admire greatly.
Uk:
Speak on!
Oan:
I will begin once more:
The bright day is gone.
The night maketh me sad, sad-
Uk:
Said I not that "sad" should be spoken but once? Shall I set Ok and Un upon thee with their branches?
Oan:
But it was so born within me-even "sad, sad-"
Uk:
If again thou twice or thrice say "sad," thou shalt be dragged to the Stone.
Oan:
Owl Ow! I am thy cub! Yet listen:
The bright day is gone.
The night maketh me sad-
Ow! Ow! thou makest me more sad than the night doth! The song-
Uk:
Ok! Un! Be prepared!
Oan (hastily):
Nay! have mercy! I will begin afresh:
The bright day is gone.
The night maketh me sad.
The-the-the-
Uk:
Thou hast forgotten, and art a fool! See, Ala, he is a fool!
Ok and Un:
He is a fool!
All the Tribe:
He is a fool!
Oan:
I am not a fool! This is a new thing. In the past, when ye did chant, O men, ye did leap about the Stone, beating your breasts and crying, "Hai, hai, hai!" Or, if the moon was great, "Hai, hai! hai, hai, hai!" But this song is made even with such words as ye do speak, and is a great wonder. One may sit at the cave's mouth, and moan it many times as the light goeth out of the sky.
One of the Tribe:
Ay! even thus doth he sit at the mouth of our cave, making us marvel, and more especially the women.
Uk:
Be still!… When I would make women marvel, I do show them a wolf's brains upon my club, or the great stone that I cast, or perhaps do whirl my arms mightily, or bring home much meat. How should a man do otherwise? I will have no songs in this place.
Oan:
Yet suffer that I sing my song unto the tribe. Such things have not been before. It may be that they shall praise thee, seeing that I who do make this song am thy cub.
Uk:
Well, let us have the song.
Oan (facing the tribe):
The bright day is gone.
The night maketh me sa-sad.
But the stars are very white.
They whisper that the day shall return.
O stars; little pieces of the day!
Uk:
This is indeed madness. Hast thou heard a star whisper? Did Ul, thy father, tell thee that he heard the stars whisper when he was in the tree-top? And of what moment is it that a star be a piece of the day, seeing that its light is of no value? Thou art a fool!
Ok and Un:
Thou art a fool!
All the Tribe:
Thou art a fool!
Oan:
But it was so born unto me. And at that birth it was as though I would weep, yet had not been stricken; I was moreover glad, yet none had given me a gift of meat.