The Legend of Princess Cotton Flake [pp. 365-367]

366 THE LEGEND OF PRINCESS COTTON FLAKE. [OCT.
by the soldiery of Ahuitzotl. All unavailing then was the crying of the longrobed priests upon Piyetao Piyexoo,
the Uncreated, the Supreme One; the
oracle of Pitao Peeci was dumb; the
sacrifice smoked vainly before Pitao
Yaa, the Averter of Ill; "there was no
voice, nor any that answered: and they
leaped upon the altar which was made."
I might tell of the deeds of the Eagles
and Tigers* of the Mexican army, or of
mighty men among the Zapotecs; or I
might dwell on the fate of captives destined to have their hearts torn out beating before the face of Huitzilopochtli,
and their bodies cast down from the
temple as a feast for the people.
The issue of the contest for it long
time seemed doubtful, but finally Cocyoeza retreated to the summit of a high
plateau, through the centre of which, at
the bottom of a deep gorge, sometimes
appearing and sometimes tunneling its
way underground, the river Nexapa, like
"Alph the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man,
Down to a sunless sea."
At the foot of this plateau, upon the
plain of Dani Guevedchi, the Mexicans
suffered many defeats, and finally, much
against the grain, Ahuitzotl was driven
to make peace. Ambassadors waited
upon Cocyoeza, and among other conditions of the treaty it was stipulated
that the Zapotec monarch should take
to wife one of the daughters of the royal
house of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico. This
lady, the sister of Ahuitzotl and of the
future Montezuma II., was remarkable
both for her great beauty and for the
extreme whiteness of her skin, which
caused her to be called by the Zapotecs,
Pelaxilla, or Cotton Flake. She was as
gifted in her mind as in her person, and
was versed in all the accomplishments
of her people.- The tradition goes on
to say, that, in spite of the satisfaction
*Such were the titles borne by certain ranks of
warriors.
which so agreeable and honorable an
alliance gave Cocyoeza, yet that sagacious monarch was not easy in his mind
-perhaps he thought his luck too good
to be genuine; the Aztecs were notoriously perfidious, and had it been the
fashion in Zapotecapan to instill Virgil
at the cane's-end, he would probably
have quoted "tineo Danaos et dona
ferentes." As it was, he retired to his
country - place, near Tehuantepec, and
there meditated. Though he had heard
of the Princess Cotton Flake, he had
never seen her; the alliance was most
desirable, but-he had several wives at
home-he ran the double risk of being
betrayed and of adding a Xantippe to
his household. The more he pondered,
the more he doubted.
One evening, being a good deal troubled in spirit about the matter, he went
out into his garden to bathe. Under
the groves of cedar and cypress and
among the sweet-smelling flowers the
monarch sauntered, until at length he
arrived at a secluded spot, where was a
clear pool of water; here he stopped,
and, having disrobed, dismissed his attendants. The moment was most propitious: the warm air, heavy with the
odors of rare tropical plants, was stirred
by the faintest of zephyrs; the moon
cast a tremulous silver net-work upon
the grass through the surrounding foliage; the shrubbery, where the myrtle
mingled its dark glossy leaves with
the red berries of the pepper-tree,
rustled ever so slightly; the tempting
coolness of the water invited the royal
bather. Lulled and soothed, as who
would not be? by the quiet and beauty
of the scene, the monarch stood rapt
in thought for some minutes; then with
an invocation to Wichaana, the God of
Waters, he was about to plunge into the
pool, when, on a sudden, he started and
drew back. Out of the shadow of a
mighty cypress, gray with the moss of
ages, came a figure clad in long robes.