The Fair God; or, The Last of the 'Tzins

The justice of the rude appeal aroused him, and he retook his sword and shield, and joined in the fight,—eight against the many. About them closed the lancers; facing whom one by one the brave men died, until only Alvarado remained. Over the clashing of arms then rang the ’tzin’s voice,—

“It is the Tonatiah! Take him, O my children, but harm him not; his life belongs to the gods!”

Fortunately for Alvarado a swell of Christian war-cries and the beat of galloping horses came, about the same time, from the further side of the canal to distract the attention of his foemen. Immediately Cortes appeared, with Sandoval, Morla, Avila, and others,—brave gentlemen come back from the land, which they had safely gained, to save whom they might of the rear-guard. At the dread passage all of them drew rein except Morla; down the slope of the dyke he rode, and spurring into the lake, through the canoes and floating débris, he headed to save his friend. Useless the gallantry! The assault upon Alvarado had ceased,—with what purpose he knew. Never should they take him alive! Hualpa’s lance, of great length, was lying at his feet. Suddenly, casting away his sword and shield, he snatched up his enemy’s weapon, broke the ring that girdled him, ran to the edge of the canal, and vaulted in air. Loud the cry of the Christians, louder that of the infidels! An instant he seemed to halt in his flight; an instant more, and his famous feat was performed,—the chasm was cleared, and he stood amongst his people saved.

Alas for Morla! An infidel sprang down the dike, and by running and leaping from canoe to canoe overtook him while in the lake.

“Sword and shield, Señor Francisco! Sword and shield! Look! The foe is upon thee!”

So he was warned; but quick the action. First, a blow with a Christian axe: down sank the horse; then a blow upon the helmet, and the wave that swallowed the steed received the rider also.

“Al-a-lala!” shouted the victor.

“The ’tzin, the ’tzin!” answered his people; and forward they sprang, over the canoes, over the bridge of the dead,—forward to get at their hated enemies again.

“Welcome art thou!” said Cortes to Alvarado. “Welcome as from the grave, whither Morla—God rest his soul!—hath gone. Where is Leon?”

“With Morla,” answered the captain.

“And Mesa?”

“Nay, Señor Hernan, if thou stayest here for any of the rear-guard, know that I am the last of them.”

“Bastante! Hear ye, gentlemen?” said Cortes. “Our duty is done. Let us to the land again. Here is my foot, here my hand: mount, captain, and quickly!”

Alvarado took the seat offered behind Cortes, and the party set out in retreat again. Closely, across the third canal, along the causeway to the village of Popotla, the ’tzin kept the pursuit. From the village, and from Tlacopan the city, he drove the bleeding and bewildered fugitives. At last they took possession of a temple, from which, as from a fortress, they successfully defended themselves. Then the ’tzin gave over, and returned to the capital.

And his return was as the savior of his country,—the victorious companies behind him, the great flotillas on his right and left, and the clouds overhead rent by the sounding of conchs and tambours and the singing and shouting of the proud and happy people.

Fast throbbed his heart, for now he knew, if the crown were not indeed his, its prestige and power were; and amidst fast-coming schemes for the restoration of the empire, he thought of the noble Tula, and then,—he halted suddenly:—

“Where is the lord Hualpa?” he asked.

“At the second canal,” answered a cacique.

“And he is—”

“Dead!”

The proud head drooped, and the hero forgot his greatness and his dreams; he was the loving friend again, and as such, sorrowing and silent, repassed the second canal, and stood upon the causeway beyond. And the people, with quick understanding of what he sought, made way for him. Over the wrecks of the battle,—sword and shield, helm and breastplate, men and horses,—he walked to where the lover and his beloved lay.

At sight of her face, more childlike and beautiful than ever, memory brought to him the sad look, the low voice, and the last words of Hualpa,—“If I come not with the rising sun to-morrow, Nenetzin can tell you my story,”—such were the words. The iron cross was yet in her hand, and the hand yet rested on the head of a warrior lying near. The ’tzin stooped, and turned the dead man over, and lo! the lord Hualpa. From one to the other the princely mourner looked; a mist, not of the lake or the cloud, rose and hid them from his view; he turned away,—she had told him all the story.

In a canoe, side by side, the two victims were borne to the city, never to be separated. At Chapultepec they were laid in the same tomb; so that one day the dust of the hunter, with that of kings, may feed the grass and color the flowers of the royal hill.

He had found his fortune!

Here the chronicles of the learned Don Fernando abruptly terminate. For the satisfaction of the reader, a professional story-teller would no doubt have devoted several pages to the careers of some of the characters whom he leaves surviving the catastrophe. The translator is not disposed to think his author less courteous than literators generally; on the contrary, the books abound with evidences of the tender regard he had for those who might chance to occupy themselves with his pages; consequently, there must have been a reason for the apparent neglect in question.

If the worthy gentleman were alive, and the objection made to him in person, he would most likely have replied: “Gentle critic, what you take for neglect was but a compliment to your intelligence. The characters with which I dealt were for the most part furnished me by history. The few of my own creation were exclusively heathen, and of them, except the lord Maxtla and Xoli, the Chalcan, disposition is made in one part or another of the story. The two survivors named, it is to be supposed, were submerged in the ruin that fell upon the country after the conquest was finally completed. The other personages being real, for perfect satisfaction as to them, permit me, with the profoundest respect, to refer you to your histories again.”

The translator has nothing to add to the explanation except brief mention that the king Cuitlahua’s reign lasted but two months in all. The small-pox, which desolated the city and valley, and contributed, more than any other cause, to the ultimate overthrow of the empire, sent him to the tombs of Chapultepec. Guatamozin then took the vacant throne, and as king exemplified still further the qualities which had made him already the idol of his people and the hero of his race. Some time also, but whether before or after his coronation we are not told, he married the noble Tula,—an event which will leave the readers of the excellent Don Fernando in doubt whether Mualox, the paba, was not more prophet than monomaniac.

1

Fernando De Alva Iztlilzochitl.

2

The goddess Cioacoatl, called “Our Lady and Mother.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

3

Carrier slaves, or porters.

4

In Aztec mythology, God of the Air.

5

Equivalent to Pontiff or Pope.

6

Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

7

Ixtlilxochitl, son of Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco.

8

King of Tezcuco.

9

See Prescott’s Conq. of Mexico.

10

Guatamozin, nephew to Montezuma. Of him Bernal Diaz says: “This monarch was between twenty-three and twenty-four years of age, and could in all truth be called a handsome man, both as regards his countenance and figure. His face was rather of an elongated form, with a cheerful look; his eye had great expression, both when he assumed a majestic expression, or when he looked pleasantly around; the color of his face inclined to white more than to the copper-brown tint of the Indians in general.”—Diaz, Conquest of Mexico, Lockhart’s Trans., Vol. IV., p. 110.

11

Prescott’s Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 417.

12

The God of War,—aptly called the “Mexican Mars.”

13

There was a fire for each altar in the temples which was inextinguishable; and so numerous were the altars, and so brilliant their fires, that they kept the city illuminated throughout the darkest nights. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p 72.

14

The Aztec currency consisted of bits of tin, in shape like a capital T, of quills of gold-dust, and of bags of cocoa, containing a stated number of grains. Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

15

Temple. The term appears to have applied particularly to the temples of the god Huitzil’.—Tr.

16

Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

17

The Mexican Hell. The owl was the symbol of the Devil, whose name signifies “the rational owl.”

18

Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista.

19

The Divine Book, or Bible. Ixtlil’s Relaciones M.S.

20

A kind of emerald, used altogether by the nobility. Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

21

Or capilli,—the king’s crown. A panache was the head-dress of a warrior.

22

A garment of coarse white material, made from the fibre of the aloe, and by court etiquette required to be worn by courtiers and suitors in the king’s presence. The rule appears to have been of universal application.

23

’Tzin was a title equivalent to lord in English. Guatamotzin, as compounded, signifies Lord Guatamo.

24

The great market-place or square of Tlateloco. The Spaniards called it tianguez. For description, see Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. II., Book IV. Bernal Diaz’s Work, Hist. de la Conq.

25

Iztacoihuatl.

26

Popocatepetl.

27

Cortes’ squadron reached the mouth of the river Tabasco on the 12th of March, 1519.

28

Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

29

God of the sea.

30

The allusion was doubtless to the expeditions of Hernandez de Cordova, in 1517, and Juan de Grijalva, in 1518.

31

These are the proper names of the queens. MSS of Muñoz. Also, note to Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. II., p. 351.

32

A species of fig.

33

Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

34

A household god.

35

The fifth and sixth verses of the famous Spanish ballad, “The Lamentation of Don Roderic.” The translation I have borrowed from Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads.—Tr.

36

Gods.

37

Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 33.

38

A thief might be punished with slavery: death was the penalty for prodigalism and drunkenness.

39

The authorities touching the military orders of the Aztecs are full and complete. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 45; Acosta, Book VI. ch. 26; Mendoza’s Collec. Antiq. of Mexico, Vol. I, p. 65.

40

Tezcatlipoca, a god next in rank to the Supreme Being. Supposed creator of the world.

41

Bernal Diaz, Hist. of the Conq. of Mexico.

42

Ib.

43

Bernal Diaz, Hist. of the Conq. of Mexico.

44

Ib.

45

The University.

46

Household god of the lowest grade.

47

Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp. Gomara, Cronica. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

48

The monarchy was elective.—Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 24

49

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

50

Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conq.

51

The crown.

52

A reputed soothsayer.

53

Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conq.