Cuitláhuac

“ Alas! no other can. Cuitlahua is a prisoner; so is Cacama; and in the court-yard yonder, cold in death, lie the lords who might with them contest the crown and its tribulations. I alone am left. And as to Quetzal’,—I accept the doom of my country,—into the heart of his divinity I cast my spear! So, farewell, father. As a faithful servant, you cannot bless whom your god has cursed. With you, however, be all the peace and safety that abide here. Farewell.”
“Go not, go not!” cried Mualox, as the ’tzin, calling to Hualpa, turned his back upon him. “We have been as father and son. I am old. ”

“ They make an army the like of which was never seen. The chiefs are chosen; you may depend upon them, uncle. The whole great host will die for you.”
“Say, rather, for us,” said the lord Cuitlahua.
“No, you are now Anahuac”; and, as deeming the point settled, the ’tzin turned to Tula. “O good heart,” he said, “you have been a witness to all the preparation. At your signal, given there by the palace gate, I kindled the piles which yet burn, as you see, at the four corners of the temple. Through them I spoke to the chiefs and armies waiting on the lake-shore. ”

“ He was a beneficent deity, who seemed to have taken the shape of a man in order to improve the condition of the people of earth. His name is constructed from two words, Quetzal, a bird of beautiful plumage found in the forests of southern Mexico, and Coatl, a serpent, also found there—Quetzalcoatl, the "Plumed Serpent." The traditions, or legends, paint him as a tall, white man with a large beard, in complexion and general appearance very different from the Indians, among whom he lived, in Tula, as "God of the Air." ”

“ I have previously alluded to the myth of Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was a Mexican deity, but in reality he was one of the older pre-Aztecan gods of Anahuac. He is sometimes represented as a being of white complexion and fair-bearded, with blue eyes, and altogether of European appearance. It will be remembered that on the [74] entrance into Anahuac of Tezcatlipoca he waged a war with that god in which he was worsted, and eventually forced to depart for 'Tlapallan' in a canoe, promising to return at some future date. ”

“ In the afternoon the king Cuitlahua, whose sickness had greatly increased, caused himself to be taken to Chapultepec, where he judged he would be safer from the enemy and better situated for treatment by his doctors and nurses. Before leaving, however, he appointed a deputation of ancients, and sent them, with his signet and a message, to Guatamozin.
The ’tzin, about the same time, changed his quarters from the teocallis, now but a bare pavement high in air, to the old Cû of Quetzal’. That the strangers must shortly attempt to leave the city he knew ”

“ Soon afterwards, Cuitcatl entered the room.
"Come, Roger," he said; "a meal has been prepared, and we both sorely need food and rest. Tomorrow we shall have time to talk over the future, and by that time I shall have news whether any of the Spaniards have escaped. If they have, I must hurry off again; for Cuitlahua has sworn that not one shall leave the country, alive, and every man who can bear arms must take the field against them. But it will be an easy task for, at any rate, few can have got off that causeway alive." ”

“ So the ’tzin being found, this was the message delivered to him from the king Cuitlahua:—
“May the gods love you as I do! I am sick with the sickness of the strangers. Come not near me, lest you be taken also. I go to Chapultepec to get ready for death. If I die, the empire is yours. Meantime, I give you all power.”
Guatamozin took the signet, and was once more master, if not king, in the city of his fathers. ”

“ When the conqueror met Alvarado he upbraided him and told him that he had behaved like a madman. There was little or no provision. Cortes now made the mistake of sending Cuitlahua, the brother of Montezuma, out into the city with instructions for him to have the markets opened at once and secure provisions for the Spaniards and their horses. Cuitlahua, being free, called the council of priests. This council at once deposed Montezuma and elected Cuitlahua {177} emperor and priest in his place. The revolution and the religion now had a head. ”

“ A garden and a soft couch delight him more than camps, and dancing women better than fighting men. You might grow rich with him, but not renowned. Look elsewhere.”
“Then there is the lord Cuitlahua.” [9]
“The king’s brother, and governor of Iztapalapan!” said the merchant, promptly. “Some have thought him better qualified for Chapultepec than Montezuma, but it is not wise to say so. His people are prosperous, and he has the most beautiful gardens in the world; unlike Cacama, he cares nothing for them, when there is a field to be fought. ”

“ THE saying is current that "Outside of Mexico all is Cuatitlan."
It shows that the capital entertains a true Parisian esteem for itself, and a corresponding contempt for the rest of the country. Cuatitlan is a little village twenty-five miles to the northward, reached by a narrow-gauge railroad, built by Mexicans, but purchased by the Mexican Central. It was at Cuatitlan that I saw my first bull- fight. It is one of the two places in the vicinity where the capital thus amuses itself, the sport being prohibited in town. ”

“ O, if he be a man, with human weaknesses,—if he has hope, or folly of thought, to make him less than a god,—ere the night fall he shall give me reverence. Sign of my power shall he find at every step: cities built upon the waves; temples solid and high as the hills; the lake covered with canoes and gardens; people at his feet, like stalks in the meadow; my warriors; and Tenochtitlan, city of empire! And then, if he greet me with hope or thought of conquest,—then—” He shuddered.
“And then what?” said Cuitlahua, upon whom not a word had been lost. ”

“ They found the castle of Thin-in-Iron, and Cucúlin challenged him to combat. They fought; and he was cutting the flesh from Cucúlin, but Cucúlin's sword cut no flesh from him. They fought till Cucúlin said: "It is time now to stop till to-morrow."
Cucúlin was scarcely able to reach the tent. [219] They had to support him and put him to bed. Now, who should come to Cucúlin that night but Gil an Og, and she said: "You have gone further than any man before you, and I'll cure you now, and you need go no further for the rod of enchantment and the ring of youth." ”

“ Thus the Thlingit tribe worship Yetl; the Quaquiutl Indians, Kanikilak; the Salish people of the coast, Kumsnöotl, Quäaqua, or Släalekam. It is noticeable that these divine beings are worshipped as the Man of the Sun, and totally apart from the luminary himself, as was Quetzalcoatl in Mexico. The Quaquiutl believe that before his settlement among them for the purpose of inculcating in the tribe the arts of life, the sun descended as a bird, and assumed a human shape. Kanikilak is his son, who, as his emissary, spreads the arts of civilisation over the world. ”

“ The gods of Anahuac have rejected the king that has submitted to bonds; a great prophetess has risen from Mictlan, bearing the will of the deities; and, by the bloody pool Ezapan, that washes the wounds of the penitent, the people have heard her words, and sworn faith to a new ruler, beloved by heaven, and reverenced by themselves. They have seen the degradation of Montezuma, and Cuitlahuatzin is now the king of Mexico! ”

“ Moreover, Atahuallpa, the Prince of Quito, though the son of their conqueror, has yet also in his veins the blood of a conquered people, and many generations are needed to wipe the stain of defeat away. So when the grasp of your own strong hand is loosed, though there may be peace between them for a season, a time shall come when these two princes shall draw the sword upon each other and a war of brother against brother and of kindred against kindred shall desolate the land that your wisdom and strength have blest with prosperity and contentment. ”

“ Are not the millions of Anahuac a match for a few hundred of their enemies, in whatever form they come? Be they gods, or be they demons, they belong not to this soil, nor this soil to them, and, by all our altars and all our gods, they must retire or perish, though we, and our wives, and our children perish with them.”
“Give us your hand, brave Axayatl,” exclaimed Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, at the same instant, “be that our vow in life and in death, and wo to the base Aztec, that abandons the standard of Montezuma, or whispers of submission to the haughty stranger.” ”

“ In the heat of the struggle suddenly the companies fell back, and made open space around the Christians; then came word that commissioners from king Cuitlahua waited in the palace to treat of peace.
“The heathen is an animal!” said Cortes, unable to repress his exultation. “To cure him of temper and win his love, there is nothing like the scourge. Let us ride back, gentlemen.”
In the court-yard stood four caciques, stately men in peaceful garb. They touched the pavement with their palms.
“We are come to say, O Malinche, that the lord Cuitlahua, our king, yields to your demand for peace. ”

“ When she heard that Cucúlin had brought Gil an Og to Erin, she was enraged with jealousy and madness. She had reared the son, whose name was Conlán, like any king's son, and now giving him his arms of a champion she told him to go to his father.
"I would," said he, "if I knew who my father is."
"His name is Cucúlin, and he is with Fin MacCumhail. I bind you not to yield to any man," said she to her son, "nor tell your name to any man till you fight him out." ”

“ Cuitlahua smiled. “That is not a sickness, but a happiness; so, at least, the minstrels say.”
“What ails Nenetzin?” asked the king.
Acatlan cast down her eyes, and hesitated.
“Speak! What ails her?”
“I hardly know. She hardly knows herself,” the queen answered. “If I am to believe what she tells me, the lord Cuitlahua is right; she is in love.”
“With Tula, I suppose,” said the king, laughing.
“Would it were! She says her lover is called Tonatiah. Much I fear, however, that what she thinks love is really a delusion, wrought by magic. She is not herself. When did Malinche go to the temple?” ”

“ It seemed best that some force should remain in Cuyoacan, because the natives of Suchimilco, Culuacan, Iztapalapa, Chilobusco, Mexicalcingo, Cuitaguacad, and Mizquique, which are all on the water, were rebellious and in favour of those of the city, and should they wish to take us on our rear, we would be protected by those ten or twelve horsemen I ordered to guard the causeway, while many more remained in Cuyoacan with more than ten thousand Indian allies. ”

“ At present he is well disposed towards you because he thinks that the oracle may declare you to be the son of Quetzal through whom his people shall be redeemed, since it seems that here there is some such prophecy, and for this reason it is that he has not forbidden the friendship between you and his daughter, or so he hinted to me. But be warned, señor; for if he comes to know that you are not the man, then he will sweep you aside as of small account, and you may bid farewell to the Lady of the Heart. ”

“ Human sacrifices were forbidden, and a golden age seemed to dawn in which Tollan exceeded all the cities of the Mexican valley in importance and wealth. But a rivalry at once sprang up between the priests of the bloody god Tezcatlipoca, worshipped in Culhuacan and at Teotihuacan, and those of the peaceful and humane Quetzalcoatl, which resulted in the voluntary departure of the Pontiff king, to whom the name of his god was attached. The contest between the two sects is symbolized in the legend by the tricks of Tezcatlipoca. ”

“ The tribes in Yucatan also have a tradition of Cuculcan, whose name means the same as the two already mentioned. The authority who refers to him speaks of him only as a man. The Quiche legend, already referred to, speaks of Gucumatz only as a god. The Nahua traditions of Quetzalcohuatl, as we have seen, are confused accounts of a man and a god.
The traditions having reference to the earthly career of Quetzalcohuatl represent him as having considerable to do with Tulla and Cholula. At Tulla he appears in the light of a great medicine-man, or priest ”

“ While the foemen looked at each other so idly, up the beautiful street came heralds announcing Cuitlahua. Soon his palanquin, attended by a great retinue of nobles, was brought and set down in front of the eastern gate of the palace. Upon its appearance, the people knelt, and touched the ground with their palms. Then there was a blare of Christian trumpets, and Cortes, with Olmedo and Marina, came upon the turret. ”

“ There have been men of learning who have denominated their works from the families, of which they treated; and have accordingly sent them into the world under the title of Phaleg, Japhet, and Javan. I might, in like manner, have prefixed to mine the name either of Cuth, or Cuthim; for, upon the history of this people my system chiefly turns. It may be asked, if there were no other great families upon earth, besides that of the Cuthites, worthy of record: if no other people ever performed great actions, and made themselves respectable to posterity. ”

“ I COULD well give a longer account of this conquest of Quito by Tupac Inca Yupanqui, but I have so much to write touching other events that I cannot spare the space, nor can I relate what he did, except summarily. On the departure of the king from the city of Cuzco, it was not known in what direction he was going to make war, because he did not make known his intention, except to his councillors. More than 200,000 men assembled, with so much baggage and stores that the plain was covered with them. ”