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_ ACT I
SCENE III.
Werocomoco, the royal village of POWHATAN. INDIAN GIRLS arranging ornaments for a bridal dress. Music.
NIMA.
Let us make haste, my companions, to finish the dress
of the bride; to-day the prince Miami returns with
our hunters from the chase; to-morrow he will bear
away our princess to his own nation.
[Enter POCAHONTAS from the wood, with bow and
arrow, and a flamingo (red bird). Music as she enters.]
PRINCESS.
See, Nima, a flamingo.
[INDIAN GIRLS crowd around, and admire the bird.]
PRINCESS.
O Nima! I will use my bow no longer; I go out to the wood, and my heart is light; but while my arrow flies, I sorrow; and when the bird drops through the branches, tears come into mine eyes. I will no longer use my bow.
[Distant hunting-horn. Music. They place themselves in attitudes of listening. Hunting-horn nearer.]
NIMA.
'Tis Miami and our hunters. Princess, why are your looks sad?
PRINCESS.
O Nima! the prince comes to bear me far from my father and my brother. I must quit for ever the companions and the woods that are dear to me. Nima, the Susquehannocks are a powerful nation, and my father would have them for his friends. He gives his daughter to their prince, but his daughter trembles to look upon the fierce Miami.
[Music. HUNTERS seen winding down the hills; they are met by the women of the village; MIAMI approaches POCAHONTAS, and his attendants lay skins at her feet.]
MIAMI.
Princess, behold the spoils I bring thee. Our hunters are laden with the deer and the soft furred beaver. But Miami scorned such prey: I watched for the mighty buffalo and the shaggy bear; my club felled them to the ground, and I tore their skins from their backs. The fierce carcajou had wound himself around the tree, ready to dart upon the hunter; but the hunter's eyes were not closed, and the carcajou quivered on the point of my spear. I heard the wolf howl as he looked at the moon, and the beams that feel upon his upturned face shewed my tomahawk the spot it was to enter. I marked where the panther had crouched, and, before he could spring, my arrow went into his heart. Behold the spoil the Susquehannock brings thee!
PRINCESS.
Susquehannock, thou'rt a mighty hunter. Powhatan shall praise thee for his daughter. But why returns not my brother with thee?
MIAMI.
Nantaquas still finds pleasure in the hunt, but the soul of Miami grew weary of being away from Werocomoco, for there dwelt the daughter of Powhatan.
PRINCESS.
Let us go to my father.
[Music. Exeunt PRINCESS and MIAMI into palace, followed by NIMA and train; the others into their several cabins.] _
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