“I wanted to leap and dance with joy, yet I stood quietly and watched the river running between the greening cottonwood trees, for I knew it is bad luck to be so happy.”

Sing Down the Moon opens with a mood of hope and happiness as Bright Morning greets the beginning of spring. She is particularly happy because the new season means the chance to watch over her mother’s flocks of sheep again. This mood of joy sharply contrasts with the traumatic events of the novel, including Bright Morning’s enslavement and the forced confinement of the Navajo. Bright Morning foreshadows this contrast when she feels it is bad luck to feel happiness.

“‘It is possible that our friend will never be married,’ she said. ‘Who wants a girl who has arms that look like sticks?’”

Bright Morning’s friends Running Bird and White Deer mildly tease her as the three watch over their families’ flocks of sheep. They pick on Bright Morning’s physical appearance as well as her interest in Tall Boy. Bright Morning ultimately proves this teasing wrong: She not only eventually marries Tall Boy, she also proves to be a strong, brave woman, despite her arms “like sticks.”

“On the barrels of their rifles were fastened long, sharp-looking knives. That is why we always called them the Long Knives.”

Bright Morning explains the origins of the term “Long Knives,” which is what she and the Navajo villagers call the white soldiers with bayonets affixed to the ends of their rifles.