A NEW STAR IN THE SKY
..
A village, isolated in a hidden wooded valley, exists as it has for centuries
The children play while the villagers go about their daily tasks, fishing
the river
and hunting the forest and the plain
They live in harmony with themselves, the animals, and the Spirits of the
Earth
The old shaman, wearing a cloak of black bear skin, sits at his crude loom
and weaves
a beautiful fabric
He looks down into the village from the sacred mountaintop where he lives
Animals and children gather around and watch his magical hands work, as
he tells
tales of their forefathers and sings the sacred songs of his people
His chanting echoes throughout the valley, and the animals and birds reply
The shaman is filled with great joy
...Night falls
The sounds of the Night Spirits travel through the valley under a river
of stars
The shaman sits around the great fire with his people, spinning the tales
that
have been handed down through the ages
He speaks of the Ghost Dance that breathes life into the legendary Horse
of Fire,
the winged stallion that carried the spirits of their forefathers to the
Lost World
The children are frightened by his tale and the sounds of the dark
He tells the children not to be afraid. for when the sun returns, he will
give
them a special gift
He will teach them the Ghost Dance .Then they will never again have need
of fear
With this promise the children sleep .The shaman sits awake by the fire
He alone is aware of the ominous cries that the Spirits of Darkness bring
to the
valley this night
Dawn breaks as a tall willowy figure wanders into the village
He is the Shadow Catcher, a photographer.The children run and hide with
fear
The villagers crowd around and stare at the wondrous stranger who is paler
than a winter moon
He has with him a mule bearing his ground glass and tools
In the mule's saddle packs are trinkets and gifts that the Shadow Catcher
lavishes on the bewildered villagers
The shaman warns his fellow tribesmen of the Shadow Catcher's magic
The glass plates he carries will capture their
souls
They will live only as bodies without spirits
The villagers pay no attention to the shaman's desperate warning
The shaman leads the children to the safety of the mountains
Once there, he teaches them the Ghost Dance
The old man and the children watch from the mountain, as the men and women
pose
for the Shadow Catcher
The villagers stare in amazement at the images that appear upon his glass
plates
The Shadow Catcher quietly packs his ground glass and tools and slowly
walks the
path out of the village.Darkness descends like a blanket upon the valley
The buffalo disappear from the great grassy
plain
The fishermen return to the village with empty baskets and the rivers run
red
When the frightened villagers ask the remaining animals where the buffalo
and fish
have gone, they too run into the forests to hide - no longer able to reply
The shaman is saddened by the sight of his people who no longer move as
one with
nature The children sicken
Their spirits frozen in the Lost World by the magic of the Shadow Catcher,
the village lays dying
The adults seek out the disheartened shaman
Now they ask him where the buffalo have gone and why the birds no longer
sing
He tells them that they too, have gone to the Lost World where the rivers
run clear
and the grass is forever green and high
They beg him to use his magic powers to release their captive spirits
He tells them that to do this he must go on a journey in search of the
Horse of Fire,
for only with the Horse of Fire can their spirits be retrieved from the
Lost World
The children sing a prayer of peace as the shaman leaves on his journey
into the desert
For many days and nights the shaman wanders alone in the desert
On the way back to the sacred mountaintop, he passes through the village
The old man holds a bundle of feathers brought to him by the Spirit of
the Wind and a
buckskin pouch full of fallen stars gathered in the desert
The villagers
see that he has with him no magic horse
They believe his journey has failed.They are sad and call him fool
Without a word he continues on to his mountain dwelling and spins a fine
sparkling
thread from the fallen stars.He takes the feathers from his journey
and with this newly spun thread, begins to weave them into a brilliant
cloth
Slowly, it starts to take the shape of a horse
When completed, he and the children carry it to the village center
The villagers begin to gather around the glittering cloth horse
The shaman tells them that during his journey the spirits of the Earth,
Wind and Sky
fill him with visions of what is to come
His journey to the Lost World will free the trapped spirits of his people
Now they must prepare for their own journeys to this land of forever, where
peace
and harmony await them
He begins to chant and dance the Ghost Dance