Sir Clements R. Markham

“ O Urco, the Inca has made
A great and a powerful chief,
And grants thee with marvellous grace
The arrow and also the plume.
RUMI-ÑAUI.
Illustrious King, I venture to ask,
Will Anti-suyu have two chiefs.
TUPAC YUPANQUI.
There will not be two, O Rumi-ñaui
The Mountain Chief will rule the Antis;
In Cuzco Ollantay will reign—
As Viceroy deputed by me
His duties will call him to act
As ruler throughout the whole realm.
OLLANTAY.
O King! thou dost raise me too high,
A man without service or claim;
I am thy obedient slave—
Mayst thou live for a thousand years. ”

“ RUMI-ÑAUI.
If you continue to vex me
I will take your life.
PIQUI CHAQUI.
Ollantay, is it? He is at work.
Ollantay! He is building a wall,
With very small stones indeed;
They are brought by little dwarfs—
So small that to be a man’s size
They have to climb on each other’s backs.
But tell me, O friend of the King, [56]
Why art thou in such long clothes,
Trailing like the wings of a sick bird [57] —
As they are black it is better.
RUMI-ÑAUI.
Hast thou not seen already
That Cuzco is plunged in grief? ”

“ Rumi-ñaui had opened the gate,
As cautious and silent as fate—
We were masters with none to oppose.
Those rebels fell into the trap,
The arrows came on them like rain,
Most died in their sleep without pain,
Not knowing their fatal mishap.
Ollantay, still trusting, was ta’en,
The same Urco Huaranca befell;
Hanco Huayllu is captive as well,
We thy rebels in fetters detain.
The Antis by thousands are slain,
A fearful example is made,
They are beaten, crushed, and betrayed,
Their women in sorrow and pain. ”

“ Ollantay and the Mountain Chief.
OLLANTAY.
O father, we have nought to say,
Our crimes are overwhelming us.
TUPAC YUPANQUI.
(to the Uillac Uma) .
Pronounce their sentence, great High Priest.
UILLAC UMA.
The light that fills me from the Sun
Brings mercy and pardon to my heart.
TUPAC YUPANQUI.
Now thy sentence, Rumi-ñaui.
RUMI-ÑAUI.
For crimes enormous such as these
Death should ever be the doom
It is the only way, O King!
To warn all others from such guilt. ”

“ The drama opens towards the close of the reign of the Inca Pachacuti, the greatest of all the Incas, and the scene is laid at Cuzco or at Ollantay-tampu, in the valley of the Vilcamayu. The story turns on the love of a great chief, but not of the blood-royal, with a daughter of the Inca. This would not have been prohibited in former reigns, for the marriage of a sister by the sovereign or his heir, and the marriage of princesses only with princes of the blood-royal, were rules first introduced by Pachacuti. ”

“ Tupac Yupanqui may have thought that his father had been unjust and that there were excuses. It is known that the young Inca was indignant at some other cruelties of his father. As a magnanimous warrior he may have despised the treacherous methods of Rumi-ñaui. He may have valued Ollantay’s known valour and ability, and have been loth to lose his services. All these considerations may have influenced him more or less. The rebels were the best men he had. ”

“ Anahuarqui, the Queen, is discovered with the Princess Cusi Coyllur, who bitterly laments the absence of Ollantay. To them enters the Inca Pachacuti, quite ignorant that his daughter has not only married Ollantay in secret, but that she is actually with child by him. Her mother keeps her secret. The Inca indulges in extravagant expressions of love for his daughter. Then boys and girls enter dancing and singing a harvest song. ”

“ The last publication of a text of Ollantay was by the Rev. J. H. Gybbon Spilsbury, at Buenos Ayres in 1907, accompanied by Spanish, English, and French translations in parallel columns.
There is truth in what Zegarra says, that the attempts to translate line for line, by von Tschudi and myself, ‘fail to convey a proper idea of the original drama to European readers, the result being alike contrary to the genius of the modern languages of Europe and to that of the Quichua language.’ Zegarra accordingly gives a very free translation in French. ”

“ Thus he entirely spoils the dialogue between the Uillac Uma and Piqui Chaqui by omitting the humorous part contained in the Justiniani text; and makes other similar omissions merely because the passages are not in his text. Zegarra gives a useful vocabulary at the end of all the words which occur in the drama.
The great drawback to the study of Zegarra’s work is that he invented a number of letters to express the various modifications of sound as they appealed to his ear. No one else can use them, while they render the reading of his own works difficult and intolerably tiresome. ”

“ There is next another scene in the garden of the convent, in which Yma Sumac importunes Pitu Salla to tell her the secret of the prisoner. Pitu Salla at last yields and opens a stone door. Cusi Coyllur is discovered, fastened to a wall, and in a dying state. She had been imprisoned, by order of her father, Inca Pachacuti on the birth of Yma Sumac. She is restored with food and water, and the relationship is discovered when Cusi Coyllur hears the child’s name, for she had given it to her. ”

“ For this great service the chief of Anta was declared to be a noble of the highest rank and cousin to the Inca family. Moreover, the daughter of the Anta chief was married to the Inca Uira-cocha, and was the mother of Pachacuti. Assuming, as seems probable, that Ollantay was a son of the chief of Anta, he would be a cousin of the Inca, and of very high rank, though not an agnate of the reigning family. This, I take it, is what is intended. Pachacuti desired to raise his family high above all others, and that, consequently, there should be no marriages with subjects even of the highest rank ”

“ PIQUI CHAQUI.
It is true that my nose is growing finer,
And my ears a good deal longer.
OLLANTAY.
Come, lead me to the Coyllur.
PIQUI CHAQUI.
It is still daylight.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE 2
A great hall in the Colcampata, then the palace of the Queen or Ccoya Anahuarqui. In the centre of the back scene a doorway, and seen through it gardens with the snowy peak of Vilcanota in the distance. Walls covered with golden slabs. On either side of the doorway three recesses, with household gods in the shape of maize-cobs and llamas, and gold vases in them. On R. a golden tiana or throne. ”

“ Thou wert Chief of Anti-suyu,
Now see how far my love will go;
I make thee Chief in permanence.
Receive this plume as general,
This arrow [77] emblem of command. [78]
TUPAC YUPANQUI.
(to the Uillac Uma) .
Thou mighty Pontiff of the Sun,
Robe him in the regal dress.
Raise up the others from their knees,
And free them from the doom of death.
(Urco Huaranca, Hanco Huayllu, and Piqui Chaqui rise, the latter looking much relieved. The Uillac Uma places the robe on Ollantay’s shoulders.) ”

“ Ollantay is proclaimed Inca by the people, and he appoints the Mountain Chief, Urco Huaranca, general of his army. Urco Huaranca explains the dispositions he has made to oppose the army advancing from Cuzco, and his plan of defence. In the next scene Rumi-ñaui, as a fugitive in the mountains, describes his defeat and the complete success of the strategy of Ollantay and Urco Huaranca. His soliloquy is in the octosyllabic quatrains. The last scene of the second act is in the gardens of the Convent of Virgins of the Sun. A young girl is standing by a gate which opens on the street. ”

“ His imperial power and greatness led him to endeavour to raise the royal family far above all others.
The play opens with a dialogue between Ollantay and Piqui Chaqui, his page, a witty and humorous lad. Ollantay talks of his love for the Princess Cusi Coyllur, and wants Piqui Chaqui to take a message to her, while the page dwells on the danger of loving in such a quarter, and evades the question of taking a message. Then to them enters the Uillac Uma, or High Priest of the Sun, who remonstrates with Ollantay—a scene of great solemnity, and very effective. ”

“ In Tampu now the Inca reigns,
He rises like the star of day.
(The chiefs, soldiers, and people range them selves round. Ollantay is seated on the tiana by Hanco Huayllu, an aged Auqui or Prince.)
HANCO HUAYLLU.
Receive from me the royal fringe,
’Tis given by the people’s will.
Uilcanota [38] is a distant land,
Yet, even now, her people come
To range themselves beneath thy law.
(Ollantay is invested with the fringe. He rises.)
OLLANTAY.
Urco Huaranca, thee I name
Of Anti-suyu Chief and Lord ”

“ With coca and all kinds of food.
What cares he that his people starve?
Crossing the wilds our llamas die,
Our feet are wounded by the thorns,
And if we would not die of thirst
We carry water on our backs. ”

“ The drama was cultivated by the Incas, and dramatic performances were enacted before them. Garcilasso de la Vega, Molina, and Salcamayhua are the authorities who received and have recorded the information given by the Amautas respecting the Inca drama. Some of these dramas, and portions of others, were preserved in the memories of members of Inca and Amauta families. The Spanish priests, especially the Jesuits of Juli, soon discovered the dramatic aptitude of the people. Plays were composed and acted, under priestly auspices, which contained songs and other fragments of the ancient Inca drama. ”

“ The Temple of the Sun beyond the gardens, and the Sacsahuaman hill surmounted by the fortress, rising in the distance. The palace of Colcampata on the hillside.
(Enter OLLANTAY L. [in a gilded tunic, breeches of llama sinews, usutas or shoes of llama hide, a red mantle of ccompi or fine cloth, and the chucu or head-dress of his rank, holding a battle-axe (champi) and club (macana) ] and PIQUI CHAQUI coming up from the back R. [in a coarse brown tunic of auasca or llama cloth, girdle used as a sling, and chucu or head-dress of a Cuzqueño] .) ”

“ A bust, on an earthen vase, was presented to Don Antonio Maria Alvarez, the political chief of Cuzco, in 1837, by an Indian who declared that it had been handed down in his family from time immemorial, as a likeness of the general, Rumi-ñaui, who plays an important part in this drama of Ollantay. The person represented must have been a general, from the ornament on the forehead, called mascapaycha, and there are wounds cut on the face.—Museo Erudito, No. ”

“ It might be he will be attacked;
’Tis said th’ old Inca sends a force,
The men of Cuzco now advance.
We have not a single day to lose;
Call from the heights our Puna men,
Prepare their arms without delay,
Make Tampu strong with rampart walls,
No outlet leave without a guard;
On hill slopes gather pois’nous herbs
To shoot our arrows, carrying death.
OLLANTAY.
(to Urco Huaranca) .
Select the chiefs!
Fix all the posts for different tribes;
Our foes keep marching without sleep—
Contrive to check them by surprise.
The compi [42] ruse may cause their flight. ”

“ The powerful nation of Chancas, with their chief, Huancavilca, inhabited the great valley of Andahuaylas and were formidable rivals of the Incas. But they were subdued by Pachacuti long before Ollantay can have been born. ”

“ There was another copy in the convent of San Domingo at Cuzco, but it is corrupt, and there are several omissions and mistakes of a copyist. Dr. Valdez died, at a very advanced age, in 1816. In 1853 the original manuscript was in the possession of his nephew and heir, Don Narciso Cuentas of Tinta.
The Justiniani copy was, in 1853, in the possession of Dr. Don Pablo Justiniani, Cura of Laris, and son of Don Justo Pastor Justiniani. He is a descendant of the Incas. [3] In April 1853 I went to Laris, a secluded valley of the Andes, and made a careful copy of the drama of Ollantay. ”

“ Zegarra has coral as the equivalent for huayruru.]
17 (return)
[ The tuya (coccoborus chrysogaster) is a small finch, and tuyallay means ‘my little tuya.’]
18 (return)
[ The piscaca is a much larger bird than the tuya. These piscacas (coccoborus torridus) are nailed to trees as a warning to other birds. They are black, with white breasts.]
19 (return)
[ In the tuya she sees her husband Ollantay, while the poor princess herself is the forbidden grain.] ”

“ Ollantay-tampu. Hall of the fortress-palace. Back scene seven immense stone, slabs, resting on them a monolith right across. Above masonry. At sides masonry with recesses; in the R. centre a great doorway. A golden tiana against the central slab.
(Enter OLLANTAY and URCO HUARANCA, both fully armed.)
URCO HUARANCA.
Ollantay, thou hast been proclaimed
By all the Antis as their Lord.
The women weep, as you will see—
They lose their husbands and their sons,
Ordered to the Chayanta war. ”

“ It does not mean a relation.]
57 (return)
[ The Zegarra and Spilsbury texts have hualpa, a game bird. The Justiniani text has anca, an eagle, which is the correct reading.]
58 (return)
[ The Inca Pachacuti does not appear to advantage in the drama. But he was the greatest man of his dynasty, indeed the greatest that the red race has produced. He was a hero in his youth, a most able administrator in mature age. As a very old man some needless cruelties are reported of him which annoyed his son.] ”

“ Here it refers to the wild tribes of the montana.]
26 (return)
[ In the original Quichua, Ollantay makes his appeal to the Inca in quatrains of octosyllabic verses, the first line rhyming with the last, and the second with the third. Garcilasso de la Vega and others testify to the proficiency of the Incas in this form of composition.]
27 (return)
[ Ollantay was Viceroy of Anti-suyu.]
28 (return)
[ Chahuar, a rope of aloe fibre. A curb or restraint.]
29 (return)
[ Raprancutan cuchurcani: literally, ‘I have clipped their wings.’ Rapra, a wing.] ”