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Hernán Cortés.

Por: Detalles de publicación: Madrid Espasa-Calpe 1979Edición: 3a. edISBN:
  • 8423949257
Tema(s): Clasificación CDD:
  • 923.572.
Clasificación LoC:
  • F1230 .C9265 1979
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Chapter 1 Prologue: The Return of Quetzalcoatl In the year 4-House of the eighth sheaf of years of the Mexican era the Emperor Moteçuçuma the Younger had a great fright. We know this year as 1509. The Mexicans counted their time in "sheafs" of fifty-two years, and in order to designate them without error or ambiguity, a system had been adopted which can be best understood by reference to a pack of cards: as if we were to call our years one of spades, two of hearts, three of diamonds, four of clubs, five of spades, six of hearts, seven of diamonds, eight of clubs, etc. It is clear that the series or "sheaf" would begin again every fifty-two years. The Mexican calendar divided the fifty-two years of a "sheaf" into four sets or "colours" of thirteen years, i.e., rabbits, reeds, flints and houses. (1) Moteçuçuma was Uei Tlatoani of Mexico, that is senior Lord, literally, the one who speaks; and as such, he was entitled to the utmost respect from everyone in the Empire, beginning with the second highest dignitary in the State, who proudly bore the title of Ciuacoatl or Serpent-Woman (a combination formidable enough). Wherever Moteçuçuma went, streets were carefully swept before he passed, though he never actually set foot on them, for he was conveyed in a litter or, if he walked, it was over carpets which protected his august feet from the touch of mother earth; powerful magnates covered their rich garments with rough, cheap wraps before being admitted to his presence. No one was allowed to look him in the face. If such a man had a fright it could only be caused by the fear of supernatural powers. He was a keen observer of the religious tenets of his people, and when, on the death of the Emperor Ahuitzotl, the twelve electors had chosen him out of sixteen possible candidates, though he was but sixth in the line of descendants from Emperor Axayacatl (2) his father, their choice may have been guided not only by his military exploits (which gave him the right to wear his hair plaited in the manner of those who had caught at least six prisoners alive for the sacrifices to Uitzilopochtli, the war God) (3) but by the fact that his piety had already earned him the position of head of the priesthood. King Nezahoalpilli, of Tetzcuco, one of the chief magnates of the Empire, seems to have played a leading part in this election which had taken place in the year 10-Rabbit. (4) "The twelve of the Empire, having come to an agreement, prepared a brazier, a fire, and copal-incense, close to the chimney [. . .] And a bodkin of tiger-bone and another one of lion-bone, and the incensory, an invaluable wrap, very rich, loin-cloths, golden greaves, and the crown which they called xiuhhuitzolli, which was a half-mitre worn on the forehead and tied at the back of the head." This done, the electors went to fetch the new Emperor at the Calmecac or Monastery of the noblemen where he lived. They "made him sit on the throne and then they cut his hair in the regal way and bored a hole through his nose-partition in which they set a thin and subtle tube of gold which is known as acapitzactli. Then, from his waistband they hung a small tecomatl or gourd, to imply or mean that he was to carry picietl (5) or snuff in it, that is, grit for the journey, and they put on him gold earrings and gold lip-ornaments, and a wrap of blue netting, like a thin shawl with many small and valuable stones and expensive loin-cloths, thin blue greaves and the crown of lordship. This done, they incensed him and the two kings hailed him Emperor of Mexico-Tenuchtitlan." This was no sinecure, as the two kings immediately went on to explain with as much eloquence as prolixity. From Uitzilopochtli, who required to be "served, worshipped, revered in praises and sacrifices," and whose service was such that "it allowed no sleep," down to "the old men and women," to be treated "with much love, giving them what was necessary for their upkeep," the Emperor had to attend to all persons, things and duties; and, not content with seeing to it that the roads were clean and swept, "particularly where the sacrifices of blood-penitence are to be made," he had also to keep watch over the stars, for he was told: "At dawn, known as tlahuizcalpan teuctli, you must bathe and do sacrifice, paint your face black and pierce your ears, arms and legs, to draw blood from them, then, with the incensory, offer incense to the ninth heaven, looking at it." As if to prove that he was willing and ready, the new Emperor at once "asked that two bodkins should be brought to him very sharp, one made of tiger-bone and one of lion-bone, and again and again he pierced his ears, arms and legs. He then took two quails, cut their heads off and sprinkled the blood on the fire. He then ascended the temple of Uitzilopochtli and, having kissed the earth with his finger, at the feet of the god, again pierced his ears, arms and legs. Then he seized a few quails, cut off their heads and sprinkled the blood on the temple. Then he took the incensory and incensed the god Uitzilopochtli and the four parts of the temple and, having bowed deep, he went down to the royal palaces with the kings and lords who accompanied him. After their meal was over, they all went up to the temple again, stopping short of the four highest steps, on which the god image stood, just at the round stone known as eagle-dish, cuauhxicalli, blood brazier and duct. As the stone was pierced through, it swallowed much blood and the whole could hold many human hearts, and there he made another sacrifice and beheaded more quails." (6) * * * "He was"--says the Canon of Mexico, Cervantes de Salazar, writing but shortly after his death--"a man of average stature, with a certain gravity and royal majesty which plainly showed who he was even to those who did not know him. He was thin, light-bodied, of a yellowish brown colour, as of a parrot, in the manner of all persons of his nation; his hair was long, very black and shiny, almost down to the shoulders; he had a sparse beard, with a few black hairs some inches long; his eyes black, his glance grave, and all over his face a certain affability along with a royal majesty, such that those who looked at him felt drawn to love and revere him. He was a fairly strong man, lithe and light; he was a good archer, a good swimmer and proficient in all warlike exercises; he was good-natured, though strict as a judge, and this he did in order to be loved and dreaded, for on account both of what his predecessors had told him and of what he had learned from personal experience, he knew that his subjects were such that they could not be governed nor kept within the bounds of justice otherwise than by rigorous and stern ways [. . .] He spoke well and wittily when there was occasion for it; yet most prudently; he was very fond of women and used to take drugs to strengthen his virility; he treated them well and enjoyed them in the utmost secrecy; he was fond of feasts and pleasures, though, owing to his gravity, he was sparing in the use of them. In his religion and worship of his vain gods, he was most careful and devout; in offering sacrifices, most assiduous; he ordered that all laws and statutes concerning religion should be respected with the utmost rigour; for nothing was he less lenient than for an offence, however slight, to the divine worship. In the punishment of larceny and adultery, to which he saw his people especially addicted, he was so severe that no friendship or entreaty was enough for him to stay the execution of a law. Towards his own people, he behaved with such majesty, that, no matter how great the person, he allowed no one to sit down in his presence or to wear shoes or look at his face, save such and such a person and they had to be great lords and of royal blood. "He went about always very polished and, in his way, richly dressed; he was marvellously clean, for every day he took two baths; he seldom left his apartment, save for meals; he did not receive many visitors; most business was transacted through the members of his council, and they or one of them came to report to him, but even this only through two or three interpreters, though they all spoke the same language. He went through his house to the sacrifices which were offered in the chief temple of Uitzilopochtli, where, at some distance from the great of his realm, he showed much devotion; he came out downcast, wrapped in thought, speaking to no one." (7) * * * This was no doubt the mood in which he was cast when, on that fateful year 4-House of the 8th sheaf, he heard one evening the yells and wails of his subjects and, coming out on the terrace of his palace, beheld a meteor in the sky which confirmed his worst fears. For it had fallen to his lot to govern in a most unhappy era. The tonalpouhque or astrologers of Mexico held that the world in which they lived would fare no better than the three worlds which had preceded it: the first, called Atonatiuh, or Water-Sun, had been swallowed by a deluge; the second, known as Tlalchitonatiuh, or Earth-Sun, had been quartered and disjointed by earthquakes; the third, Ecatonatiuh, or Wind-Sun, had been swept away by a hurricane, leaving nothing alive but a number of female monkeys. The fourth, Moteçuçuma's world, was known as Tlatonatiuh, or Fire-Sun, and the astrologers knew for certain that it would be destroyed by fire. Nor was this destructive madness altogether devoid of method; for the Mexicans held that the end of the world was to come in the future, as it had done in the past, on one of the 2-Reeds years, i.e., one of the years in which they "tied up the sheaf" (8), the fifty-second or last of a cycle. Moteçuçuma could still remember the last time--just two years earlier--in which he had passed with his people through the ordeal of doubt: is it to be this time, or have we still another fifty-two years to live? The omens had been most unfavourable right through the year: eighteen hundred Mexican warriors had been drowned in a river; "the Sun had been eaten" (i.e., there had been an eclipse) (9), and there had been an earthquake. No wonder that, from the Uei Tlatoani himself to the humblest of his subjects, all Mexicans had trembled for months, weeks, days, till the last hour of the cycle had come; no wonder that the ceremony of the rekindling of the fire had been that year exceptionally grave and moving. Moteçuçuma had directed that in that year's fights, his warriors should endeavour to catch alive a generous and noble enemy, whose name should be specially connected with the ceremony; a soldier, named Itzcuin, had been fortunate enough to seize in battle a captain of Vexotzingo, known as Xiuhtlamin, and as Xiutl means year, the Emperor considered this a sufficient indication that the prisoner would be a welcome victim for the exacting gods. At last, the dreaded, yet longed-for period set in, and the Mexicans began to prepare for the day of doubt. With the nihilism of approaching death, they threw into the lagoon on which the town was built their domestic utensils and ornaments, the small stone-mills with which the housewife made flour out of her maize, together with the wood or stone images of their familiar gods; then, after carefully sweeping and cleaning their empty houses, on the day so much sighed for, they put out all their fires. The five "empty days," nemontemi, which came at the end of every year, were this year devoted to fasting and prayer. Nothing in the whole empire was then allowed to burn or raise a flame. The fire was dead. And until the "Master of the Science of the heavens" or, in Mexican, Ilhuicatl Tlamatilizmatini, announced that the world did go on rotating, no fire was necessary. No fire would be necessary, for if the stars did not continue to turn the priest would not be able to kindle a new fire, and the world would come to an end. The Sun would not return; the night would stay for ever, and in its permanent darkness the monstrous Tzitzimitles would fall upon them and devour them all. So, they all ran up to their terraces, after locking up the pregnant women who, were the stars to stay their course, would be sure to turn into ferocious Tzitzimitles and devour every human being within their reach; the children had to be kept awake by all possible means, for if they ever fell asleep they were sure to turn into mice, as everybody knew might have happened on any of the previous seven sheaf-years. All Mexico, tense and trembling, watched from the terraces of the town the hill of Uixachtecatepetl where the new fire--if any--was to be kindled. Meanwhile, the priests had donned their masks and ornaments, which made each of them a living image of the god whose servant he happened to be, and had begun the long, solemn procession which by carefully calculated steps was to bring them to the hilltop just at midnight. The priest entrusted with the duty of lighting the new fire walked along practising with the two pieces of wood, a spindle and a plank, with which he was to raise the life-giving sparks and, close to him, marched the unfortunate prisoner Xiuhtlamin, on whose breast the fire was to be kindled. A vast concourse of people followed the grim procession, while by other roads and in canoes more crowds converged on to the slopes of the hill of Uixachtecatepetl. There, on a small temple on the very top, the Ilhuicatl Tlamatilizmatini anxiously watched the Pleiades as they approached the Meridian, crossed it and went on in their unperturbed motion; he observed also the three stars in Taurus which stand close to the Pleiades and which the Mexicans identified with the fire-kindling instrument, whose name, mamalhoaztli (10), they had given them. As soon as these stars had passed the Meridian, gazing from afar on the obscure worshippers who made of their serene light a signal for bloody rites, the Ilhuicatl Tlamatilizmatini announced the fact to the other priests who, possibly less anxious than the crowd of their faithful in the plain, awaited in darkness within a lower temple. The last minute had come for Xiuhtlamin; he was quickly seized by five priests, laid helpless on the sacrificial stone and stabbed by the chief priest just above the heart with a sharp obsidian knife which at one stroke severed all his chief veins and arteries. His heart was plucked out and raised, still throbbing, towards the bloodthirsty deity and on his gory chest the fire-kindling priest laid his wooden mamalhoaztli and feverishly turned the sharp spindle into the dry, hot hole of the plank. A dust of wood flour rose from the plank and fell on the victim's body--but suddenly, a fleeting spark, then another and another ignited the dust; the priest pressed home his advantage and soon a steady flame illumined the gaping wound of the victim's body and the eager faces of the priests. On this new fire, the victim's heart was thrown, the first fuel of the new era, and gradually his whole body was made to feed the flame. Presently, a flaming brazier was brought out of the temple into the cold night, teeming with an anxious human sea. The sight of the flames was the signal for the rebirth of joy, of life and of its thousand minor activities. Every man and woman present, on seeing that light, had pierced his ears with maguey thorns and sprinkled the blood drawn from their wounds in the direction of the fire. Round the brazier, the local priests of all the towns and villages in the valley endeavoured to kindle their pine-torches at the newborn flame and, this done, ran downhill as quickly as they could; the light of a new hope went running here and there in the dark night, to kindle new ritual fires in the temples, bonfires in the squares, hearth fires in every home, so that soon after midnight, such was the speed and eagerness of all, there were enough fires everywhere to illumine the whole valley with a light almost as clear as the light of day. (11) * * * Moteçuçuma remembered that memorable day. He knew that his people had outlived that doubt and fear. And yet, he had remained in mortal dread of fate. The gods were hard. He was a youth of nineteen when, in the year 8-Reeds, his predecessor Ahuitzotl, elected Uei Tlatoani the year before, had dedicated a new temple to Uitzilopochtli, in whose honour he had sacrificed twenty thousand prisoners from Maçatlan, Tlapan, Tzicoac, Uaxtepec, Xolochiuhyan, Tzapotlan, Cuauhnauac and Yoaltepec. During four days, in fourteen temples, the victims stood in queues, miles long, waiting for the hour when their turn would arrive. They were painted over with chalk, except for a black band across the eyes; they wore eagle feathers on the head; on their brows, a fillet of bark-paper tied with down tassels; a collar, waistband and loin-cloth, also of paper; they held a paper flag in their right hand and in their left a mock shield made of reeds adorned with five eagle-down feathers. On arriving at the temple, the victim was led up the steps or dragged by the hair if too feeble or too strong to walk to his death; and once at the top, he was seized by five priests and thrown on his back upon the techcatl; two priests held his legs; two his arms; and a fifth held his head back by a wooden yoke under his throat. The sacrifice was then performed in the usual way, by opening the victim's breast with a swift stroke of an obsidian knife and tearing his heart out to be offered as food to the sun. The gory priests had to take turns to relieve one another when exhausted by the physical effort. Heart after heart was poured into the eagledish; body after body was hurled down the steps of the temple to the yard; the cuacuacuiltin, old men told off for this gruesome work, took them away and had them flayed and cut up. (The choice parts went to the table of the Uei Tlatoani; the rest to that of the warrior who had caught the slave.) (12) Never in the history of Mexico had such a human holocaust been offered to the god of war. Moteçuçuma, gloomy with foreboding, might well reflect that, during his reign, no such proof of faith and devotion had been raised towards the gods. An old tradition announced the return to Mexico of one of the most powerful of them, Quetzalcoatl or Serpent-with-Precious-Feathers, god of the wind: "a man of good appearance, of a grave countenance, white-skinned and bearded; dressed in a long white garment." This man "whom they called Quetzalcoatl, and others Huemac, owing to his great virtues," had come to the land of the Mexicans and "taught them by word and deed the way of virtue, saving them from vice and sin, giving them laws and good doctrine; and to restrain them in their lusts and lewd ways, had instituted fasting amongst them [. . .] But seeing how little fruit his doctrine brought forth, he had gone away by the same road he had come, which was to the East, vanishing on the Coast of Coatzacoalco, and as he parted from them, he had said to them that at a future time, on a Ceacatl [1-Reeds] year, he would return, and then his doctrine would be received, and his sons would be lords and owners of the lands, while they [the Mexicans] and their descendants would undergo many calamities and persecutions . . ." (13) Moteçuçuma, as a thoughtful statesman and as the upholder of the worship and tradition of his folk, could not but be alive to the signs and portents which might foretell the fulfilment of this prophecy, for the return of the white-skinned and bearded prophet from the Orient would bring in its trail calamities and persecutions for his race. Now on that fateful year 4-House of the 8th sheaf, not one but several portents came to disturb him deeply: One night, "a big comet appeared in the sky, on the East side of it, which looked like a big flame of fire, very bright, and which threw forth fire-sparks. This comet was in the shape of a pyramid, wide at its lower part, and becoming narrow as it rose, so that it ended in a point; it could be seen in the middle of the Orient; it began to appear shortly after midnight and persisted till the morning; and the light of the sun covered it so that when the sun was out it was no longer to be seen." Hardly had the Mexicans recovered from the fright, when the Cu, or temple, of the god of war Uitzilopochtli, was seen ablaze "without any human reason for it, and the flames came from the beams outwards; the priests shouted for water to put out the fire, but the more water was thrown on it, the more it burnt." "The next portent was the lightning stroke which, without purpose or thunder, hit the Cu of the God of Fire, known as Xiuhtecutli. This Cu had a straw roof, and the lightning struck it and burnt it out. All held it to be a miracle, for there was no thunder, though it rained a little." "The fourth portent was a comet which, by day, while the sun shone in the sky, ran from the west of Mexico to the east, throwing off hot coals and big sparks; it had a very long tail, and everybody began to yell, all at once, for it looked like a thing of terror and as such it was held." "The fifth was that the lagoon of Mexico, without any wind whatsoever, rose; it seemed to boil and the water leapt up high, and there was a great storm on the lagoon, and the waves beat on the houses near by and brought down many of them. The Mexicans held it as a miracle for there was no wind." "The sixth portent was that in those days voices were heard in the air as of a woman who went about weeping and said: 'Oh my children, the days of our end are at hand!' And at other times she said: 'Oh my children, whither shall I take you?'" We may imagine how these voices would echo in the prophetic soul of Moteçuçuma, so full of forebodings. For, of all the signs and portents of nature, those that speak reach deepest into our inner self, such is the power of the human voice. Hence, Moteçuçuma would, no doubt, feel most grateful for the discretion of the eighth portent, to wit, "men with two heads" which at that time "appeared in many places"; for "they were led to Moteçuçuma's palace for him to see them, and once he had seen them, they vanished without saying anything." But the worst of all these portents which filled Moteçuçuma with fear and horror was the seventh: "a bird in size and colour like an eagle, which had a mirror on the crown of its head." "The fishermen or water-hunters" who caught it "took it to Moteçuçuma, who was in his palace, in a hall known as Tlillan Calmecac. This was in the afternoon, and Moteçuçuma looked at the bird and looked at the mirror which it had on its head, which was round and very polished, and glancing at it he saw the stars of heaven, the 'Little Masts' or Mamaloaztli, and Moteçuçuma was frightened at this and looked away, with the face of a frightened man; and, having looked again into the mirror on the bird's head, saw in it men on horseback who came all together and armed." This was a pretty direct hint. So the unfortunate Emperor "summoned the soothsayers and astrologers and men learned in matters of portents, and asked them: 'What is this which I have seen here? What does it mean?' And while they were all thus frightened the bird vanished." (14) It was, it must be owned, a pretty poor situation for all these astrologers and soothsayers; indeed, a dangerous one, for Moteçuçuma was not used to being disappointed and he had a somewhat heavy hand with those who defrauded him of his expectations. Unfortunately for his augurs, the era was rich in portents and their powers were soon to be put to even harder tests. One morning, the priests who watched by night the temple of Tetzcatlipoca, King of the gods, came to report to the Emperor that towards midnight they had seen a column of white smoke in the east; it was so white that it shone with as much light as if it were midday, "and it rose from the earth till it almost touched the sky, and seemed as if it came forward walking like a great white giant." Moteçuçuma said to them: "Be sure you were not half asleep, or perhaps you have dreamt it." But upon their insistence, Moteçuçuma spent the next night watching for it, and it did come out, "whiter than snow, and it came forward, thickening, so that it looked as if a very tall man were approaching through the air, close to the sky." The Emperor summoned his necromancers and magicians and asked them: "What have you seen by day or by night, watchmen for the people as you are?" At which the unfortunate necromancers and magicians answered: "Sir, we have seen nothing at all, either by day or by night." Moteçuçuma was wroth and had them taken to jail and walled up so that they should starve to death. He then summoned Nezahoalpilli, the aged King of Tetzcuco, one of the neighbouring states which acknowledged his imperial authority, and for whose experience and virtue he had the utmost respect. The old king, who had not been taken unawares by the portent, said to Moteçuçuma: "It is the will of our gods that this should come to an end; what can I say? As for me, my lord and beloved grandson, I shall not see it, because I am going to lie down, and this is my farewell." Moteçuçuma wept; he wept both for his old granduncle and for himself; and in a new fit of wrath had his necromancers strangled. (15) Nothing daunted by the death of their interpreters, portents followed portents so that Moteçuçuma saw how the very acts of piety which he performed to placate the gods became for the gods but new occasions to haunt him with their gloomy omens. The pious Emperor bethought himself of the fact that in his lifetime he had done nothing to perpetuate his memory; so he called the Serpent-Woman and imparted to him that he had decided to have a huge round stone cut in honour of Uitzilopochtli. The Serpent-Woman thought well of this and took adequate measures thereto. But when the huge stone was ready, no effort was sufficient to persuade it to come down to the spot in the city for which it had been prepared. In vain long strings of slaves pulled with all their might at the ropes; the ropes broke and the stone did not budge; in vain did the priests sacrifice quail after quail, to smear the stone with innocent blood and so propitiate it; not only did the stone remain motionless, but it went so far as to express its determination in unmistakable terms. After a few dark and premonitory utterances, the stone was good enough to say: "Tell Moteçuçuma it is too late. He should have thought of it earlier. His end is at hand." The Emperor, nevertheless, gave orders that priests should cajole it by smearing it again with the blood of quails, and that copal-incense should be burnt in its honour and old men should go to dance and sing to it, to induce it to move. It looked at first as if this treatment were to be successful, for the stone did move; but as they arrived halfway across the bridge of Xoloco, "which was made of big cedar planks seven hands wide and nine hands thick," "the stone spoke again and said: 'Up to here it shall be and no farther,' saying which, the bridge broke." The stone fell into the water. Next day Moteçuçuma in person directed operations for rescuing it; but though he chose the hour of midday when water is at its clearest, and though the weather was so fine that he had to protect his majestic person with a parasol, and the stone was huge, it could not be found. It was presently discovered on top of the hill whence it had come so unwillingly. (16) Hardly recovered from this episode, Moteçuçuma one day, as he paced a terrace above his palace, saw a white cloud rising towards the sky over Tetzcuco. This is what had happened. A peasant was working on his land, upon the small hill of Quetzaltepetl, when suddenly an eagle seized him by the hair and took him away across space into a hall "the best he had ever seen." The peasant then saw no eagle but a great lord who said to him: "Come here; fear not; take this rose and this perfume-sprayer; enjoy yourself. But see, behold here Moteçuçuma lying helpless, dead drunk. Wound him in a thigh." After some hesitation, the peasant did so, and the great lord then spoke again: "Do you see how he lacks all sense, being too far gone with drink? Go back now to the world and tell him all, and how I made you wound him in his thigh, and tell him to give up what he is now doing, for his end is at hand." "And the same eagle brought the peasant back to his land with the rose and the perfume-sprayer. The peasant went straight to Moteçuçuma and told him all. The Emperor called his steward Petlacalcatl and said to him: 'Take this drunkard out of my sight and let him die stoned or beheaded or walled up.'" But, when the peasant had gone, he called Petlacalcatl again and complained of a sharp pain in his thigh; and though his wives found remedies for it, he remained impressed with this revelation after so many others. (17) There could be little doubt that this last warning came direct from Huecmac himself, and so we find Moteçuçuma at this time so much obsessed by the powerful and mysterious lord that he dreamt--whether asleep or awake--of giving up his dangerous and exalted functions and taking refuge in Zincalco, the Paradise of Huecmac, where one never dies, "where there are all kinds of food and drink, and all kinds of roses and of fruit-trees." (18) He had four slaves sacrificed to Uitzilopochtli and flayed so that the skins should be sent as presents to Huemac. His thoughts evidently went back to this Huemac, Huecmac or Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, whose ancient prophecy predicted a return of white, bearded men as conquerors from the East. He gave orders that priests, old men, women and his calpixquis, or provincial stewards, should report whatever dreams were dreamt in his dominions; and soon enough, dreams of bad augury began to pour in: he had the dreamers put to death. But the worst augury was no dream: it was a vision of reality. One day a mazehual, or man of humble station, came to see him: "Lord and King of ours"--he said--"forgive my daring: I come from Mictlan Cuauhtla; I walked to the seashore and I saw a kind of mountain or big hill moving about in the midst of the sea, without touching the shore, and this we had never seen, and as watchmen of the seacoast, we are always on the alert." Said Moteçuçuma: "Let it be. Go and rest." "And this man who came to see him with the news had no ears for he was earless; nor had he any toes, for they had been cut off." In his usual way, Moteçuçuma had the messenger locked up in the wooden prison. Yet he sent trusted men to find out whether his report was true. The trusted men came back saying that "it was true that two towers or small hills were moving about on the sea." Two of Moteçuçuma's high dignitaries went then to the coast: they hid in the thick foliage of the tree and observed this last portent; then went back to the imperial city and "repaired straight to the palace of Moteçuçuma to whom they spoke with the reverence and humility which were his due. They said: 'Lord and King of ours, it is true that there have come we know not what people and have arrived at the shore of the great sea; where they have been fishing with rods, and others with a net which they throw into the water, until, having fished till quite late, they entered a small canoe and boarded the two big towers and climbed into them. This people might be about fifteen persons, wearing some kind of red bags, and others blue, brown or green, and others of a dirty colour, as ugly as our ychtilmatl, others crimson, and on their heads some wore red cloths, others big headcovers like pans, perhaps to protect themselves from the sun; and their flesh is very white, whiter than ours, but most of them have long beards, and their hair comes down to the ears.' Moteçuçuma was downcast and spoke not a word." (19) Quetzalcoatl had returned. His name was now Hernán Cortés. Excerpted from Hernán Cortés: Conqueror of Mexico by Salvador. de Madariaga All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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