The Sun Dance Lodge
The Sun Dance has been going on for so long everybody is exhausted and numb. For the first time in a long period, everything stops. Movement as well as sound. Think of the familiar trope - it was quiet…too quiet:
“The spectators’ circular arbor was still as death…Indeed, the very world itself was hushed with expectancy in the predawn air so fresh and bracing. In the west the night was dying. The lacy, fading moon hung low against the dark sky. But the east was aglow with the promise that just below the horizon the sun was waiting to begin its daily ritual.”
Palefaces
Those members of the tribe who have never yet seen white people are learning of the strangeness of their appearance relative to their own. Imagery is put to very effective use delineating the wide divergences in appearance of these strange new invaders:
“Many have blue eyes, some have brown, some have yellow, and not a few have black eyes, as black as ours. And their hair? If it is not yellow, it is brown, or black, or a blazing red. Their skins are faded and pal—what of you can through the hair, that is. But—here’s an odd thing—if they stay in the hot sun all day they do not turn a dark brown as we do, but actually a bright crimson!”
The Omaha
A meeting of the tribes manages to put the representatives of the Omaha in quite a positive light in the eyes of Waterlilly and Prairie Flower. In fact, as impressive as their own tribe may be, nothing like the Omaha in all their glory had they ever witnessed before:
“Tall, stalwart, and self-assured in their gorgeous costumes of costly white buckskin heavily fringed and brilliantly ornamented, with war standards high and feathers flying, truly the Omaha were a breathtaking sight.”
A Place for Blue Bird
Following their union, Blue Bird’s new husband is intent on introducing her to a special place to set up their tipi. A secret location very special in his memory which he hopes to make even more special now. Imagery vividly conveys the reasons for his special attachment:
“It would be an ideal spot for a tranquil stay. They would make their tipi under the tall cottonwoods and watch the golden leaves glisten in the sunlight. There only nature’s sounds would reach the ear—the murmur of the water, the twitter of birds overhead, the call of coyotes in the hills—all pleasantly new and wild.”
