O friend of the gods, befriend us!
(The women cast dust on their hair and rock to and fro while the Chisera speaks, lifting up their arms in an agony of entreating.)
The Chisera
Am I not also a tribeswoman? Would not I do so much for my people? But your gifts and your prayers will be acceptable to the gods, for of myself I can do nothing. (She stoops to the gifts, but hesitates.) Who is this that comes?
(The young girls steal up noiselessly through the bushes, led by the Chief's daughter. Bright Water is lovely and young; her hair, flowing loosely over her shoulders and breast, is mingled with strings of beads and bright berries. Her dress of fringed buckskin is heavily beaded, her arms are weighted with armlets of silver and carved beads of turquoise; about her neck hangs a disk of glittering shell. She walks proudly, a little in advance of the others, who bunch up timidly like quail on the trail, behind her. The women, catching sight of the girls, spring up, frightened, and stand half protectingly between them and the Chisera.)
Tiawa
It is the Chief's daughter.
Seegooche
What do you here? You have neither sons nor husbands that you should ask spells and charms.
Bright Water