The Chief and his Wife sit, waiting. West appears.
West
Origin of the masks.
In the middle of the night
After a bad day’s hunting and hungry to bed
A man heard something moving around near his hut
And running out found a giant paca which he killed.
There was enough meat for everyone in the village
But two did not join in the feast
A woman who that night was giving birth
And her husband.
The next day when the men had set off hunting
A devil wearing a bark mask appeared in the woman’s hut
He told her that the villagers had killed and eaten his son
And that he must be revenged.
She and her husband and child he said would be spared
And told her to gather the bark from a certain tree
That night the devils came and killed every villager
But the three who hid their faces behind the bark.
Now it is known that the wearing of the bark masks
Is certain protection against the devils.
For who seeing his own image his own skin
Could destroy his own kind?
West exits.
Music. Two Indians appear, playing ten-foot flutes and dancing. Behind them, with their right hands on the Men’s shoulders, two Girls dance in time. They circle and weave around the posts and across the stage. The chief rises and moves behind the posts. As he does so, the other Indians rise and join the dance. The Chief emerges from behind the posts wearing a mask, dancing his own dance. The ceremony is reaching a climax of excitement and exhilaration.
Cutting through this the sound of a light aircraft. The Indians falter, continue, falter again, and, as the sound of the aeroplane increases in intensity, gradually stop. The plane is now overhead.
It drops bombs.
Explosions, panic, chaos. The sound of the plane diminishes, then increases again as it turns and flies back over the village even lower.
More bombs.
Screams of pain and fear.
Blackout.