The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-08-11

of the scene, III WHICH the
tale Of Quivera is unfolded. The
Turk and YsOpete will appear, ana
with trumpets and banners the span
ish troop will march forth on its wild
quest. TO the great chorus, Hearts
Of the COnquistadores," a feature Ok
the music written for the pageant by
Henry Purmort Eames, formerly or
Omaha, now Of Chicago. Immediately
the temper of the scene will change;
from q great festival Of entertainment
it will turn to a carnival OF vindlctlve
hate and the malicious joy of the In
dians in the success Of their ruse.
| There will be a war dance-a genuine
one by native Indians; a meteoric
| shower in the distance will foretell
disaster to the Spaniards; the cacique
will deliver his curse upon them-a
tremendous baritone solo; and the first
nights performance will end with a
great cheric appeal to the Gods OF
Destruction to fall upon the depart
ing strangers.
The second evening of the pageant,
September 10th, will represent the
army of Coronado in the Missouri
Valley, in the fabulous Quiyera. The
! pageant again opens with an indian
dance, done by native Plain Indians.
Following this comes Il fantasia, an
imaginative representation of Tatar-
raX and his people, not as actually
was to disclose them but as viSiOned
in the drama Of the Spaniards. The
scene will represent the dancing
women Of Quivera, waving boughs
from the tabled tree with it's pendu-
lous bells Of silver and gold. 1t will
show the ornate symbolled barge of
the monarch, bearing IatarraX, mon
arch Of Dreams" and his prophet, who
will foretell the near approach Of the
new order of things. Then it will
fade, as a dream fades, and in the
distance the army of Coronado will
be seen approaching.
The burning of a distant village,
after a brief combat, will be emblem
attic Of the adventures Of the journey.
The Spaniards will enter, led by the
Turk" Then will follow the drama
Of the revealment, when Coronado
and his followers discover that they
have been deliberately misled, in the
hope-as "the Turk" boasts-that they
will perish in the wilds. For this
treachery the Turk" (who, after all,
was a hero of the Indian race was
executed, ere the diSillusionc,l Span
iards turned back on their course.
But in Coronado's report Of the cum
tries discovered, made TO the King IF
Spain, he did picture the prairie-land
as rich and fertile, capable of sup
porting many cattle and growing rich
vineyards. For him it was no great
American DESERT as long it seemed
to the first explorer from the east.
1t is therefore with especial propriety
that in the pageant Of Coronado in
Quivera," following his first disillusion-
ment, Coronado should be represented
as foreseeing the great future of the
prairie country, his Quivera.
The pageant closes with this Wis
ion of the future as foreseen by COro-
nado, in a kind of apocalypse. First
the trappers and traders and early
explorers pass in view, with their
packs and dogs and ponies. Next the
cowboy days are indicated, and after
them the farming settlers with their
oX-teams and prairie %schooners. The
Indian wars are indicated by soldiers
and mounted Indian warriors,-who
had first seen horses when the troop
Of Coronado wound over their hunting
grounds. A chorus, Hail to the City
greets a symbolic representation Of
the city Of Omaha, "The Gate Of the
Prairies," emblematic of the final and
full white mans occupation, acclaim
ed by rainbow dancers, emblems Of
promise,-for after all there is no
region on earth with such conscious
promise as is ours.
But this is not all. COronado's
quest was disappointed in its actual
TatarraX, but If it be viewed as a
quest of the ideal through the CEN
turtles 1t is coming to a kind of reali-
zatiOn in the Pageant movement and
in such pageant-fostering organiza-
tons as Ak-Sar-Ben itself, with King
Ak-Sar-Ben as the monarch of the
new dynasty. The pageant, therefore,
will show, before the grand finale,
the emisSaries of this new monarch
Of Dreams" come to receive their
commission from the past, from Coro-
nadO and from TatarraX and from
all the wealth of Nebraska's grea.
tradition. At the close, the whole will
be massed in a great spectacle, as it
were, telescOping the centuries in one
brilliant vision.
There are many features-dances,
choruses, songs, spectacle,-which will
appear in the twO-evening pageant
that cannot be noted i'm this brief ac-
count. Mention should be made, now
ever, of the "Prairie Vesper," to be
given by some six hundred Omaha
school children as a sort of a curtain
raiser (the real curtain is to be the
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