University of Virginia Library

Act II

Scene I

(Osceola's cottage at a distance. Enter Osceola thoughtfully).
Osceola
Eternal Sun! thou father of the Stars,
And husband of the Moon! I look upon
Thy majesty as on the face of God!
Thy glory fills the universe with light!
Thy presence turns the darkness into day!
When thou art in the Heavens, the earth looks glad!
The birds begin to sing—the ocean smiles—
The rivers laugh in song—the woods resound with melody!
The iron Oak lifts up its silver-shafted arms
To catch thy beams, as does some boy to drink
His father's smiles! The Spring, at thy beloved
Approach, lays down her carpet of rich green,
Spangled with million flowers of every hue,
Striped with the silver streams that wind along.
Among the tasseled Reed-Isles to the Sea!
Even Heaven looks happier gazing on thy face!
Now, then, as thou hast clothed thy Warriour-clouds
With golden armor—sent thy thunder-trump
To muster up thy bannered host afar through Heaven!
So shall my voice, from out my native Hills,
Gather my mighty squadrons on the field
For Battle.

(Enter Celuta from the cottage)
Where is Naymoyah now?

Celuta
Oh! ask me not, great Chief! the Eagle-Son
Of Miccanopy loves her well!

Osceola
He does.
The Hawk is on the wing; he will not spare
The Dove. When did you see her last?

Celuta
Last night
With Ostenee.

Osceola
Then she has sought his arms
To save her Selma's life. The Lake of Swans
Can show no whiter bred than she. But will
The Lightning spare the pine because its boughs
Moan in the winds?

Celuta
No, no, great Chief! But then
They say that Selma shall be burned tonight!

Osceola
The Seminolean Eagle said not so.

Celuta
But if he is released, will she not go?
And if Naymoyah go, this heart must break!
Celuta loves Naymoyah well! Say, will
She go?

Osceola
No—as the grape-vine clings around
The flowery Birch, so shall her arms take hold
Of thee. She has not left Celuta yet.

Celuta
Then let her fly with him—fly with her love—
And, in the sinless Solitudes lie down,
Till they can walk the rosy paths in peace.

Osceola
You know the world is dark without the Sun;
But it would be all day compared with her
Without her heavenly Selma's love. But hark!!
I hear young footsteps on the hills! She comes!
Behold! Naymoyah comes!

Celuta
She does! She does!
The Silver Swan comes to her Lake again!
(Enter Naymoyah. They embrace)
Swim on the bosom of Celuta's love,
And let her soul grow white to image back
Thy form!

Osceola
Naymoyah, Why art thou shedding tears?

Naymoyah
Oh! father! they have killed Naymoyah's love!
Where is my Selma? When is he to die?

Osceola
Tonight, at Banqueting of souls!

Naymoyah
Tonight!
Oh! father! let him not be burned tonight!

Celuta
No, Osceola! save Naymoyah's love.

Osceola
Fond daughter! he is Miccanopy's foe!
And Osceola would not have him false!
My child! I do not like those tears! Away!

Naymoyah
I tell thee, father, what I saw last night—
I saw the great High Spirit, in my dreams,
Walking upon thick clouds with eyes of fire!
And, as he passed, he seemed to say to me,
The very light that shines upon you now,
Shall roll but fifty times through Heaven, when all
In Ouithlacoochee's Vale shall pass away!

Osceola
Go, gentle daughter! get thee home again.
(Exeunt Naymoyah and Celuta into the cottage).
That dream has told me what my own soul knows.
But what the eyes of that fair child have seen,
That Osceola's soul shall never see!
The Earth cannot despise the mighty Sun,
Because his face is hidden by dark clouds;
Nor is the soul of Osceola less
The son of Outalissa, now its light
Is rising on the world to set in blood!

(Exit)

Scene II

(The Indian Council. Enter Selma guarded by Ostenee).
Miccanopy
(rising)
When Osceola's father lived, he had
A daughter whom he loved above all things;
For he had made her Queen of all his Tribe.
One day, when he was gone, the White-Man came,
And throwing in the lake some Pearls of Love
He brought with him, he won her heart—she fled—
And, from that fatal hour, was never seen!
The Chief of Cuscovilla's Vale returned.
He visited the Fountain of Green Isles,
But she was gone—gone to return no more!
And when he prayed to Micabou, the God
Of Waters, to restore him back his child,
He said the Wakon-bird had killed his Dove,
And borne her spirit to the Land of Souls!
The flower of Cuscovilla's Vale was gone!
And he who talked like Outalissa's son,
Mustered his mighty host upon the hills,
And laid the tall heads of his warriours low!
Just so has Selma served Naymoyah's love!
Now, Sachems, Warriours, listen to my voice!
Before three Moons shall roll away in Heaven,
The snorting Warhorse will be seen upon
Our hills, trampling the desert flowers to earth!
Before Manitou, who now rules the world,
This Concha Shell shall prove the only sign
Of what I wish—that he shall die tonight!

(Throws down the shell).
Jumper
(rising)
The Pale-face comes to call his brother—has
The Roe-buck cut upon his thigh—throws off
The robe that made him Priest of all our Tribe—
Deceives us—leaves our homes—joins with the whites—
Betrays his love—is caught again—now stands
Up here to hear the sentence of his death!
Then, by the Power that makes us what we are,
Let him be burned tonight!

(Enter Naymoyah falling in Selma's arms)
Naymoyah
Oh! Selma! love!
Hast thou not done Naymoyah wrong? Speak, love!
Oh! speak! for well she loves her darling's life
Without the which her own must cease to be!
The Indian Mico (rising to pronounce sentence)
.
Young Selma! listen to my voice!

Naymoyah
Hold! hold!
Stay the bold Eagle in his flight to Heaven!
As well may ye attempt to curb me now!
For if you touch one hair upon his head,
The Seminolian falls to rise no more!
What! know you not that if you wound the Swan,
That she will tinge the waters with her blood?
I tell you that the Spirit, Selma says
Is God, came to me in my dream last night,
And said, Naymoyah! tell this to thy tribe;
The very light that shines upon you now.
Shall roll but fifty times through Heaven, when all
In Ouithlacoochee's Vale shall pass away!

(Enter Osceola in haste)
Osceola
What is the matter here? Why is this noise
Among the Chiefs, that should keep silence? Speak!
Heard you the thunder of the White-man's host
Upon the hills? Why are ye sitting here?
Before me, in the visions of the night,
Went the tall Warhouse through the Indians' camp,
Lifting his trumpet-nostrils in the air, with feet
Dabbling in blood! Heard ye no sound? Then hear!
The fiery World, from her infernal depths,
Seemed to disgorge the nostrils of her wrath!
Oh! Warriours! if ye have not lost your souls,
Why do ye tarry here? Do ye not know
Ye cannot sentence any man to death
Upon the night of Banqueting of Souls?
Look to your wives, your children, to your homes—
For, lo! the Seminolian's hour is nigh!

Mico
Great Chiefs! What Osceola says is true.
We cannot sentence any man to death
Upon the night of Banqueting of Souls.
It is against our custom—cannot be.

Miccanopy
What! has it come to this? no laws, no rights—
Except the one that sets the White-man free?
No, by the gods! he shall die tonight!

Osceola
No, let thy son, the Eagle-Ostenee,
Who hates him as he loves Naymoyah's life,
Watch by him till he is condemned to die.

Miccanopy
It may be so. Confine him, Ostenee,
Between two upright posts set in the ground,
And guard him well! (To Naymoyah)

You, prophetess of lies,
Have spoken of the Seminolian's fall!
Before the Tribe of Miccanopy falls,
The Boy, that made thee tell me so, shall die!
Away! she is the bride of Ostenee!

(Exit Ostenee guarding Selma. The Council breaks up. Naymoyah kneels before Osceola).
Osceola
(to Miccanopy)
Brave Warriour! had we not sworn so oft
To link our hearts against the common foe,
Mine had not suffered thee to taunt her so!
But we are bound to be united now.
To separate would only crush our hopes.
But now no more until the war is done.

Miccanopy
Then we shall have no more to talk about.

(Exeunt omnes)

Scene III

(In the forest. Moonlight. Osceola's cottage in the background. Enter Naymoyah).
Naymoyah
(kneeling)
Oh! thou bright Daughter of the glorious Sun!
Have ye no Selma in the Realms of Light,
In whose bright presence ye can bask in joy?
Oh! if ye have, descend upon me now,
And from that Land, where Selma says is God,
Bring me some tokens of his dying love,
And let my spirit be at rest once more!
I know that he must stand, ere long, before
The ten fair Virgins of the Purple Hills,
And there give out his dying soul to Heaven!
Oh! thou fair Moon! whose beauty is the light
Of his fair smiles, but tell me that he lives,
And he shall meet me in thy hallowed beams,
Purer than when he left me by the day!
And if, tomorrow, he shall come again,
Oh! let thy vigils teach me how to wait!
I go—thine eyes are weeping on me now!
My locks are wet—my tears are mixed with thine—
And all the Stars seem mourning for me now!
Bright Angel! Keep Naymoyah's soul tonight!

(Enter Osceola) Osceola
My daughter! though you see me as I am,
Full of the torments of revenge—there is
A little drop of goodness in my heart.
There are, upon the one side, frozen tears,
And, on the other, fires as hot as Hell!
It must be so—there is no other hope!
Shall he who braved the elements of Heaven—
Who walked for forty Summers in the storms,
And passed as many Winters in the wars—
Treading the footsteps of his mighty God
Walking in thunders through the clouds, unscared—
Suffer the puny Pale-face to be Lord
Above his children—while the slave, who sings
His Corn-Song, walks upon his father's bones
No! Never shall the Red-Man come to this,
While this proud heart within my bosom beats,
And knows that it is Osceola's heart!

Naymoyah
Why does the White-Man hate the Indian so?

Osceola
None but the great High-Spirit knows! No one,
But God, can tell why they disturb us so!
They envy even the very air we breathe!
They come like Simighan, thy father did,
To rob the Indian of his native land!

Naymoyah
But art thou not my father? Say thou art!
Thou hast been more than father unto me—
Watching me like the Roe-Buck does the Fawn
Cropping the languid blades of cane at even.

Osceola
I love thee, sweet Naymoyah! love thee well!
Have loved thee from the hour that thou wert brought
An Orphan to my Cabin door! But know—
A Spaniard was thy father.

Naymoyah
Say not so!
But if it be as thou hast said it is,
Oh, tell me what they called my father's name?

Osceola
The Angels call him Lopez—but the name
Thy mother called him by, was Simighan.

Naymoyah
Ah! Simighan? What Angel tells my soul
That I have often heard that name before?
Was it not Selma told me so? It was.
A faint remembrance of that blessed name
Steals on my soul like Day does on the Dawn—
Melting the East to light!

Osceola
I knew when first
Thy mother clung around thy father's neck.

Naymoyah
Then tell me what became of those dear ones
Whose bosoms pillowed me in infancy?

Osceola
Ah! they are gone, gone, gone, alas! to meet
The Big Light's Father in the Land of Souls!
Thy father fell by Outalissa's hand!
Thy mother died to see thy father die!

Naymoyah
'Tis true for Osceola tells me so.
And now my heart gives echo to the truth!

Osceola
I saw the White-Man's blood upon thy cheek,
And could have slain thee in thine infant sleep;
But chose to save thee as mine own, to show
The Pale-Face how the Indian's heart can love.

Naymoyah
Thou wert my father—be so to me now
And, while they call me Osceola's child,
Oh! save my Selma from the foe tonight!

Osceola
Fond daughter! listen to your father's voice!
There is but one way you can save his life;
And, missing that, he is forever lost!
That way shall now be pointed out to thee.
But, daughter! should it ever more be known
That Osceola pointed thee that way,
A Legion of foul fiends would have me bound,
And bury me, amid their shouts, in fire!
Then take this dagger—hide it in thy belt—
Go where your lover lies bound to the stake—
Plunge deep into the heart of Ostenee—
And save thy Selma's life! Away!

Naymoyah
I go!
By yonder fair Moon in the Heavens, he dies!

(Exit).
Osceola
She shall be happy if I cannot be
It is for this that Osceola lives,
And means to lose the last drop in his heart.

(Exit)

Scene IV

(Selma is discovered bound fast to a post— Ostenee asleep on the ground by the fire).
Selma
I do not heed these savage fools! one hand
Alone shall guide me through this gloom—'tis God's!
For though they drain the life blood from my heart,
They cannot kill my soul—it is immortal!
Nor will I swerve my conscious innocence
For that poor, paltry recompence, called life.
And though my spirit's efforts fail me here
As some dear friend that would, but cannot, save—
I still will put my trust in God above!
(After a pause)
How mournful are these beatings of my heart—
Tolling the requiem of my coming death,
When all shall be together hushed in one
Eternal silence, deeper than the grave!

(Enter Naymoyah cautiously).
Naymoyah
Oh! thou great Spirit of the Land of Souls!
My soul first offered up itself to Thee,
As spotless as Thine own in pious prayer!
As thou wert then, most merciful to me,
Hear now, the soft petitions of thy child,
Who, by thine unseen hand, has thus been led
To be the Saviour of my Selma's life!
Bright Daughter of the everlasting Sun!
Look down upon me in this trying hour,
And give me courage in this faint resolve,
To execute the sentence of his death!
Let not the White-Man, that is in my soul,
But make the Indian strike the fatal blow—
Making the darker do the darker deed!

(She takes out her dagger and walks cautiously up towards Ostenee).
Selma
Oh! God! Naymoyah!

Naymoyah
Selma thou shalt live!

Selma
Be still! Why did you come?

Naymoyah
To save thy life!
How could Naymoyah see her Selma die?

Selma
Oh! God! were Ostenee to wake, we both
Would die!

Naymoyah
But he shall never wake!

Selma
Be still!

Naymoyah
I knew the peril of this perilous hour;
But, love being stronger than my fear of death,
I come to rescue thee, or die!

Selma
Oh! God!

Naymoyah
Now then, this blow—deep as my love for thee—

Selma
Hold! hold thy hand! he sleeps!

Naymoyah
He does! he sleeps!
Then let him sleep! I will unbind thy hands!
(She unbinds his hands)
Now Selma knows Naymoyah's soul is white.

Selma
I do! (Embraces her).


Naymoyah
Rejoice! for thou art free again!

Selma
I do—I do—made happy by thy love!
(Ostenee wakes, springs on his feet and, thinking her an evil spirit, exclaims,)
Matchi Manitou! help, Areskou! help!

Naymoyah
(raising her dagger)
Areskou! God of Battle! he is here!
He comes to take thy life! (To Selma)
Away!
they come! (Exeunt)

(Enter Warriours, who exclaim, with astonishment, on seeing Ostenee petrified, as it were, with fear,)
What! has Manitou laid his spirit low?

(The Curtain falls)