YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS--HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED--PROPHETIC
ANNOUNCEMENT AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS.
~Breathe not his noble name even to the winds,
Lest they my love reveal.~
* * * * *
~I have mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before.~
The childhood of the fair princess passed away without any event of
importance, except the occasional recurrence of those dark prophecies
which overshadowed her entrance into life. Her father, who had exercised
the office of priest before he came to the throne, was thoroughly imbued
with the superstitious reverence for astrology, which formed a part of
the religion of the Aztecs. To all the predictions of this mystic
science he yielded implicit belief, regarding whatever it foreshadowed
as the fixed decrees of fate. He was, therefore, fully prepared, and
always on the look-out, for new revelations to confirm and establish his
faith. These were sometimes found in the trivial occurrences of
every-day life, and sometimes in the sinister aspect of the heavenly
bodies, at peculiar epochs in the life of his daughter. With this
superstitious foreboding of evil, the pensive character of the princess
harmonized so well, as to afford, to the mind of the too credulous
monarch, another unquestionable indication of her destiny. It seemed to
be written on her brow, that her life was a doomed one; and each
returning year was counted as the last, and entered upon with gloomy
forebodings of some terrible catastrophe.
As her life advanced, her charms, both of person and character matured
and increased; and, at the age of fourteen, there was not a maiden in
all the golden cities of Anahuac, who could compare with Tecuichpo. Her
exceeding loveliness was the theme of many a song, and the fame of her
beauty and her accomplishments was published in all the neighboring
nations. While yet a child, her hand was eagerly sought by Cacamo, of
the royal house of Tezcuco; but, with the true chivalry of an unselfish
devotion, his suit was withdrawn, on discovering that her young
affections were already engaged to another. The discovery was made in a
manner too singular and striking to be suffered to pass unnoticed.
In the course of her wanderings in the forest, Karee had taken captive a
beautiful parrot, of the most gorgeous plumage, and the most astonishing
capacity. This chatterer, after due training and discipline, she had
presented to her favorite princess, among a thousand other tokens of her
unchangeable affection. Tecuichpo loved the beautiful mimic, to whom she
gave the name of Karee-o-than--the voice of Karee,--and often amused
herself with teaching her to repeat the words which she loved best to
hear. Without being aware of the publicity she was thus giving to her
most treasured thoughts, she entrusted to the talkative bird the secret
of her love, by associating with the most endearing epithets, the name
of her favored cavalier. While strolling about the magnificent gardens
attached to the palace of Montezuma, Cacamo was wont to breathe out, in
impassioned song, his love for Tecuichpo, repeating her name, with every
expression of passionate regard, which the language afforded.
Karee-o-than was often flying about in the gardens, and soliloquizing in
the arbors, the favorite resorts of her beautiful mistress, and often
attracted the notice of Cacamo.
One evening, as the prince was more than usually eloquent in pouring
into the ear of Zephyr the tale of his love, the mimic bird, perched
upon a flowering orange tree, that filled the garden with its delicious
perfume, repeated the name of his mistress, as often as her lover
uttered it, occasionally connecting with it the name of Guatimozin, and
then adding some endearing epithet, expressive of the most ardent
admiration. The prince was first amused, and then vexed, at the frequent
repetition of the name of his rival. In vain did he endeavor to induce
the mischievous bird to substitute his own name for that of Guatimozin.
As often as he uttered the name of the princess, the echo in the orange
tree gave back "noble Guatimozin," or "sweet Guatimozin," or some other
similar response, which left no doubt on the mind of Cacamo, that the
heart of his mistress was pre-occupied, and that the nephew of Montezuma
was the favored object of her love. The next day, he bade adieu to
Tenochtitlan, placed himself at the head of the army of Tezcuco, and
plunged into a war then raging with a distant tribe on the west, hoping
to bury his disappointment in the exciting scenes of conquest.
Guatimozin was of the royal blood, and, as his after history will show,
of a right royal and heroic spirit. From his childhood, he had exhibited
an unusual maturity of judgment, coupled with an energy, activity, and
fearlessness of spirit, which gave early assurance of a heroism worthy
of the supreme command, and an intellectual superiority that might claim
succession to the throne. His training was in the court and the camp,
and he seemed equally at home and in his element, amid the refined
gaieties of the palace, the grave deliberations of the royal council,
and the mad revelry of the battle-field. His figure was of the most
perfect manly proportions, tall, commanding, graceful--his countenance
was marked with that peculiar blending of benignity and majesty, which
made it unspeakably beautiful and winning to those whom he loved, and
terrible to those on whom he frowned. He was mild, humane, generous,
confiding; yet sternly and heroically just. His country was his idol.
The one great passion of his soul, to which all other thoughts and
affections were subordinate and tributary, was patriotism. On that
altar, if he had possessed a thousand lives, he would freely have laid
them all. Such was the noble prince who had won the heart of Tecuichpo.
Meanwhile, to the anxious eye of her imperial father, the clouds of fate
seemed to hang deep and dark over the realm of Anahuac. Long before the
prophetic wail, which welcomed the lovely Tecuichpo to a life of
sorrow, Montezuma had imbibed from the dark legends of ancient
prophecies, and the faint outgivings of his own priestly oracles, a deep
and ineradicable impression that some terrible calamity was impending
over the realm, and that he was to be the last of its native monarchs.
It was dimly foreshadowed, in these prophetic revelations, that the
descendants of a noble and powerful race of men, who had many ages
before occupied that beautiful region, and filled it with the works of
their genius, but who had been driven out by the cruelty and perfidy of
the Toltecs, would return, invested with supernatural power from heaven,
to re-possess their ancient inheritance.[B] To this leading and long
established faith, every dark and doubtful omen contributed its
appropriate share of confirmation. To this, every significant event was
deemed to have a more or less intimate relation. So that, at this
particular epoch, not only the superstitious monarch, and his priestly
astrologers, but the whole nation of Azteca were prepared, as were the
ancient Jews at the advent of the Messiah, for great events, though
utterly unable to imagine what might be the nature of the expected
change.
These gloomy forebodings of coming evil so thoroughly possessed the mind
of Montezuma, that the commanding dignity and pride of the monarch gave
way before the absorbing anxiety of the man and the father, and, in a
manner, unfitted him for the duties of the lofty place he had so nobly
filled. He yielded, as will be seen in the sequel, not without grief,
but without resistance, to the fixed decrees of fate, and awaited the
issue, as a victim for the heaven-appointed sacrifice.
It was about fifteen years after the prophetic announcement of the doom
of the young princess of the empire, that Montezuma was reclining in his
summer saloon, where he had been gloomily brooding over his darkening
prospects, till his soul was filled with sadness. His beautiful daughter
was with him, striving to cheer his heart with the always welcome music
of her songs, and the affectionate expression of a love as pure and deep
as ever warmed the heart of a devoted child. She had gone that day into
the royal presence to ask a boon for her early and faithful friend,
Karee. This lovely and gifted creature, now in the full maturity of all
her wonderful powers of mind, and personal attractions, had often been
admitted, as a special favorite, into the royal presence, to exhibit her
remarkable powers of minstrelsy, and her almost supernatural gifts as an
improvisatrice of the wild melodies of Anahuac. Some of her chants were
of rare pathos and sublimity, and sometimes she was so carried away with
the impassioned vehemence of her inspiration, that she seemed an
inspired messenger from the skies, uttering in their language the
oracles of the gods. On this occasion, she had requested permission to
sing a new chant in the palace, that she might seize the opportunity to
breathe a prophetic warning in the ear of the emperor. She had thrice
dreamed that the dark cloud which had so long hung over that devoted
land, had burst in an overwhelming storm, upon the capital, and buried
Montezuma and all his house in indiscriminate ruin. She had seen the
demon of destruction, in the guize of a snow white angel, clad in
burnished silver, borne on a fiery animal, of great power, and fleet as
the wind, having under him a small band of warriors, guarded and mounted
like himself, armed with thunderbolts which they hurled at will against
all who opposed their progress. She had seen the monarch of
Tenochtitlan, with his hosts of armed Mexicans, and the tributary armies
of Tezcuco, Islacapan, Chalco, and all the cities of that glorious
valley, tremble and cower before this small band of invaders, and yield
himself without a blow to their hands. She had seen the thousands and
tens of thousands of her beloved land fall before this handful of
strangers, and melt away, like the mists of the morning before the
rising sun. And she had heard a voice from the dark cloud as it broke,
saying, sternly, as the forked lightning leaped into the heart of the
imperial palace, "The gods help only those who help themselves."
Filled and agitated with the stirring influence of this prophetic
vision, Karee, who had always regarded herself as the guardian genius of
Tecuichpo, now imagined the sphere of her duty greatly enlarged, and
deemed herself specially commissioned to save the empire from impending
destruction. Weaving her vision, and the warning it uttered, into one of
her most impassioned chants, and arraying herself as the priestess of
nature, she followed Tecuichpo, with a firm step into the royal
presence, and, with the boldness and eloquence of a prophetess, warned
him of the coming danger, and urged him to arouse from his apathy,
unbecoming the monarch of a proud and powerful nation, cast off the
slavery of his superstitious fears, and prepare to meet, with the power
of a man, and the wisdom of a king, whatever evil might come upon him.
Rising with the kindling inspiration of her theme, she ventured gently
to reproach the awe-struck monarch with his unmanly fears, and to remind
him that on his single will, and the firmness of his soul, hung not only
his own destiny but that of wife and children; and more than that, of a
whole nation, whose myriads of households looked up to him, as the
common father of them all, the heaven-appointed guardian of their lives,
liberty and happiness. At length, alarmed at her own energy and
boldness, so unwonted even to the proudest noble of the realm, in that
royal presence, she bent her knee, and baring her bosom, she lowered her
voice almost to a whisper, and said imploringly--
Strike, monarch! strike, this heart is thine,
To live or die for thee;
Strike, but heed this voice of mine
It comes from heaven, through me;
It comes to save this blessed land,
It comes thy soul to free
From those dark fears, and bid thee stand
The monarch father of thy land,
That only lives in thee.
Strike, father! if my words too bold
Thy royal ears offend;
The visions of the night are told,
Thy destiny the gods unfold--
Oh! be thy people's friend,
True to thyself, to them, to heaven--
So shall this lowering cloud be riven
And light and peace descend,
To bless this golden realm, and save
Tecuichpo from an early grave.
The vision of the beautiful pythoness had deeply and powerfully affected
the soul of Montezuma; and her closing appeal moved him even to tears.
Though accustomed to the most obsequious deference from all his
subjects, even from the proudest of his nobles, he had listened to every
word of Karee with the profoundest attention and interest, as if it had
been from the acknowledged oracle of heaven. When she ceased, there was
a breathless silence in the hall. The monarch drew his lovely daughter
to his bosom in a passionate embrace. Karee remained prostrate, with her
face to the ground, her heart throbbing almost audibly with the violence
of her emotions. Suddenly, a deep long blast from a distant trumpet
announced the arrival of a courier at the capital. It was a signal for
all the attendants to retire. Tecuichpo tenderly kissing her father,
took Karee by the hand, raised her up and led her out, and the monarch
was left alone.
In a few moments, the courier arrived and entering, barefoot and veiled,
into the royal presence, bowed to the very ground, handed a scroll to
the king, and departed. When Montezuma had unrolled the scroll, he
seemed for a moment, as if struck with instant paralysis. Fear,
astonishment, dismay, seized upon his soul. The vision of Karee was
already fulfilled. The pictured tablet was the very counterpart of her
oracular chant--the literal interpretation of her prophetic vision. It
announced the arrival within the realms of Montezuma, of a band of pale
faced strangers, clad in burnished armor, each having at his command a
beautiful animal of great power, hitherto unknown in that country, that
bore him with the speed of the wind wherever he would go, and seemed,
while he was mounted, to be a part of himself. It described their
weapons, representing them as having the lightning and thunder at their
disposal, which they caused to issue sometimes from dark heavy engines,
which they dragged along the ground, and sometimes from smaller ones
which they carried in their hands. It delineated, faithfully and
skilfully their "water houses," or ships, in which they traversed the
great waters, from a far distant country. The peculiar costume and
bearing of their commander, and of his chiefs, were also happily
represented in the rich coloring for which the Aztecs were
distinguished. Nothing was omitted in their entire array, which could
serve to convey to the eye of the emperor a correct and complete
impression of the appearance, numbers and power of the strangers. It was
all before him, at a glance, a living speaking picture, and told the
story of the invasion as graphically and eloquently, as if he had been
himself a witness of their debarkation, and of their feats of
horsemanship. It was all before him, a terrible living reality. The gods
whom he worshipped had sent these strangers to fulfil their own
irresistible purposes--if, indeed, these were not the gods themselves,
in human form.
The mind of Montezuma was overwhelmed. Like Belshazzar, when the divine
hand appeared writing his doom on the wall, his soul fainted in him, his
knees smote together, and he sat, in blank astonishment, gazing on the
picture before him, as if the very tablet possessed a supernatural power
of destruction.
Paralyzed with the influence of his long indulged fears so singularly
and strikingly realized, the monarch sat alone, neither seeking comfort,
nor asking counsel of any one, till the hour of the evening repast. The
summons aroused him from his reverie; but he regarded it not. He
remained alone, in his own private apartments, during the whole night,
fasting and sleepless, traversing the marble halls in an agony of
agitation.
With the first light of the morning, the shrill notes of the trumpet,
reverberating along the shadowy slopes of the cordilleras, announced the
approach of another courier from the camp of the strangers. It rung in
the ears of the dejected monarch, like an alarum. He awoke at once from
his stupor, and began to consider what was to be done. The warning of
Karee rushed upon his recollection. Her bold and timely appeal struck
him to the heart. He resolved to be once more the monarch, and the
father of his people. Uttering an earnest prayer to all his gods, he
awaited the arrival of the courier.
Swift of foot as the mountain deer, the steps of the messenger were soon
heard, measuring with solemn pace, the long corridor of the royal
mansion, as one who felt that he was approaching the presence of
majesty, and bearing a message pregnant with the most important issues
to the common weal. Bowing low, with that profound reverence, which was
rigorously exacted of all who approached the presence of Montezuma, he
touched the ground with his right hand, and then, his eyes bent to the
earth, delivered his pictured scroll, and retired. It was a courteous
and complimentary message from the strangers he so much dreaded,
requesting that they might be permitted to pay their respects to his
imperial majesty, in his own capital. The quick-sighted monarch
perceived at once that prudence and policy required that this interview
should be prevented.
A council of the wisest and most experienced of the Aztec nobles was
immediately called. The opinions of the royal advisers were variously
expressed, but all, with one accord, agreed that the request of the
strangers could not be granted. Some counselled a bold and warlike
message, commanding the intruders to depart instantly, on pain of the
royal displeasure. Some recommended their forcible expulsion by the army
of the empire. The more aged and experienced, who had learned how much
easier it is to avoid, than to escape, a danger, proposed a more
courteous and peaceable reply to the message of the strangers. They
deemed it unworthy of a great and powerful monarch, to be angry, when
the people of another nation visited his territories, or requested
permission to see his capital. To manifest, or feel any thing like fear,
in such a case, would be a reproach alike upon his courage and his
patriotism. So long, therefore, as the strangers conducted themselves
peaceably, and with becoming deference to the will of the emperor, and
the laws of the realm, they should be treated civilly, and hospitably
entertained.
To this wise and prudent counsel, the monarch was already fully prepared
to yield. It was strongly seconded by his superstitious reverence for
the heaven-sent strangers, and his mortal dread of their superhuman
power. He, therefore, selected the noblest and wisest of his chiefs as
ambassadors, to bear his message, which was kindly and courteously
expressed; at the same time conveying a firm but respectful refusal to
admit the foreigners to an interview in the capital, or to extend to
them the protection of the court, after a reasonable time had elapsed
for their re-embarkation. This message was accompanied with a munificent
royal present, consisting of the richest and most beautiful suits of
apparel for the chief and all his men, with gorgeous capes and robes of
feather-work, glittering with jewels--precious stones richly set in
gold, and many magnificent ornaments of pure gold.
At the head of this embassy were princes of high estate, and most noble
bearing, commanding in person, and of great distinction, both at the
court and in the camp. When they arrived near the encampment of the
strangers, which was the spot where the city of Vera Cruz now stands,
they sent a courier forward, to announce their approach, and prepare for
their reception.
The meeting of the parties was one of no little pomp and ceremony, for
the courtly manners and chivalric bearing of the European cavaliers were
scarcely superior, in impressiveness and effect, to the barbaric
splendor, and graceful consciousness of power, which characterized the
flower of the Aztec nobility. The chief, advancing towards the invaders,
bowed low to earth, touching the ground with his right hand, then
raising it to his head, and presenting it to his guest, announced
himself as the envoy and servant of the great Montezuma, sole monarch
and master of all the realms of Anahuac; and demanded the name of the
stranger, the country from which he came, and the motives which induced
him to trespass upon the sacred territories of his royal master, and to
presume to ask an interview with the emperor, in his capital. The
Castilian chieftain, with a courteous and knightly bearing replied, that
his name was Hernando Cortez--that he was one of the humblest of the
servants of the great Charles, the mighty monarch of Spain, and
sovereign ruler of the Indies, and that he had come, with his little
band of followers, to pay his court to the great Montezuma, and to bear
to him the fraternal salutation of his master, which he could only
deliver in person.
The reply of the Mexican was dignified, courteous, and pointed, and left
no hope to the Spaniard, that he would then be able to effect his
purpose, of visiting in person the golden city. "If," said the prince,
"your monarch had come himself to our shores, he might well demand a
personal meeting with our lord, the emperor, but when he sends his
servant to represent him, he surely cannot presume to do more than
communicate with the servants of the great Montezuma. If it were
possible that another sun should visit yonder sky, he might look upon
our sun, in his march, and move and shine in his presence. But the moon
and the stars cannot shine when he is abroad. They can look upon each
other only when he withdraws his light."
The royal message having been delivered, the presents which accompanied
it were brought forward, and spread out upon mats, in front of the
general's tent. The Spaniards were struck, with surprise and admiration
at the fineness of the texture of the cloths, the richness of their
dyes, the gorgeous coloring and tasteful arrangement of the
feather-work, the masterly workmanship and exquisite finish of the
jewelry, and, above all, the immense value, and magnificent size of the
golden toys which were presented them. They conceived, at once, the most
exalted ideas of the riches of the country, and the munificence and
splendor of the monarch that ruled over it. Their avarice and cupidity
were strongly excited, and more than one of the inferior officers, as
well as their general, formed the immediate resolution, that, in despite
of the imperial interdict, they would endeavor, either by diplomacy or
by force, to win their way to the capital, which they supposed must of
necessity be the grand depository of all the treasures in the empire.
Their intentions were kept secret, even from each other, and, under
cover of a specious submission to the expressed will of the monarch,
Cortez requested permission to delay his departure, till his men should
be recruited, and his stores replenished for his long voyage.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of this unauthorized reprieve, the artful
and indefatigable Castilian contrived to draw off from their unwilling
and burdensome allegiance to Montezuma, the Totonacs, a considerable
tribe, residing in that part of the country where he had effected his
landing; and so to impress them with a sense of his own power and the
lenity of his government, as to bind them to him in a solemn treaty of
alliance. He also sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, a nation that had
long maintained its independence against the ambitious encroachments of
Mexico, and held Montezuma their natural and only foe. They were a brave
and warlike people, and nearly as far advanced in the arts of
civilization as their enemies. Their government was a kind of republic.
Cortez, with magniloquent pretensions of invincible power, and
inexhaustible resources, proposed to assist the Tlascalans in reducing
the power of Mexico, and putting an end to the oppressions and exactions
of Montezuma. For this purpose, he asked leave to pass through their
country, on his march to the great capital.
Distrusting the intentions of the strangers, and fearing that, instead
of a disinterested friend and ally, they should find in them only a new
enemy, whom, once admitted, they could never expel from their dominions,
and whose yoke might be even harder to bear than that which the Aztec
monarch had in vain attempted to fasten upon them--the proposed alliance
of the Spaniards was rejected, with such bold and ample demonstrations
of hostility, as left no room for doubt, that any attempt to force a
passage through their territories, would be fiercely and ably contested.
Never daunted by obstacles, though somewhat perplexed, the brave Cortez
rushed forward, encountered the almost countless hosts of the Tlascalan
army, and, after several severe and deadly contests, in which the skill
and prowess of his handful of men, with their terrible horses and yet
more terrible fire-arms, were nearly overpowered by the immense numbers,
astonishing bravery, and comparative skill of the enemy, he succeeded in
terrifying them into submission, and winning them to a treaty of
alliance, offensive and defensive, against the tyrant Montezuma, the
common enemy of all the nations of Anahuac. By these singular and
unparalleled successes, the little band of Castilian adventurers found
themselves fortified, in the heart of the country, in close alliance
with two powerful tribes, who swelled their army to ten times its
original number, besides supplying them liberally with all the
provisions that were needed for themselves and horses.
Never was adventure so rashly undertaken, or so boldly pushed, as this
singular expedition of the Spanish cavaliers. And never, probably, were
there associated, in one little band, so many of the master spirits of
chivalry, the true material of a conquering army. The compeers of
Cortez, who submitted to his authority, and acted in perfect harmony
with him, as if they were but subordinate parts of himself, were each
competent to command a host, and lead it on to certain victory. The
impetuous, daring Alvarado, the cool, courageous, trusty Sandoval, the
high-spirited, chivalrous Olid, the rash, head-long, cruel Velasquez de
Leon, and others, worthy to be the comrades of these, and of
Cortez--when have the ranks of the war-god assigned so many master
spirits to one enterprize? And the brave, the gifted, the indomitable
Xicotencatl, the mountain chief of Tlascala, whom the Spaniards, with so
much difficulty, first subdued and then won to their cause, as an
ally--what a noble personification of the soul and spirit of heroism,
realizing in personal bravery, martial skill and prowess, and in all the
commanding qualities of person and of character, which go to constitute
the victorious warrior, the best pictures of the type-heroes of epic
poetry and history.
In all their previous discoveries in the New World, the progress of the
Spaniards to victory was easy, and almost unresisted. The invaders of
Mexico, however, found themselves suddenly introduced to a new people,
and new scenes--to nations of warriors, to races intelligent, civilized,
and competent to self-government and self-defence. And all the skill,
courage, and energy of their ablest commanders, and their bravest men,
would have availed them nothing in their herculean enterprize, if they
had not craftily and skilfully worked upon the jealousies and
differences existing between the various tribes and nations of Anahuac,
and fomented the long smothered discontents, and unwritten complaints of
an over-taxed and sternly-governed people, into open and clamorous
resistance to the despotic sway of Montezuma. It is curious and
melancholy to observe, how eagerly they shook off the golden yoke of
their hereditary monarch, for the iron one of a new master, and
exchanged their long-established servitude to their legitimate king and
their pagan gods, for a more galling, hopeless, and wasting slavery to
the cruel and rapacious invader, under the life-promising Sign of the
Cross, the desecrated banner of the Prince of Peace.
[B] One version of this singular prophetic legend represented
the expected invaders, as the descendants of the ancient god
Quetzalcoatl, who, ages agone, had voluntarily abdicated the
throne of Anahuac, and departed to a far country in the East,
with a promise to his afflicted people, that his children would
ultimately return, and claim their ancient country and crown.