In the meantime Sicuiracha had grown up and had become a brave warrior and skillful hunter; but his father was now old, while his followers had lost their ancient fierceness and energy by long repose. The people of Naranjan had never forgotten the humiliation they had suffered when the Wanacaces first arrived. Now the time seemed ripe for vengeance.
IRI TICATAME AND ORESTA.
At that time a very powerful prince named Oresta was reigning at Cumachen. An embassy, laden with costly presents, was sent to him from Naranjan, requesting his assistance to drive the Wanacaces out of the country. Oresta had as much reason as any to fear the interlopers, and he readily entered into the scheme. The united forces then marched rapidly and secretly against the place where Iri Ticatame was dwelling, intending to surprise him before he could call upon his warriors. On the borders of the lake they met his wife, who, comprehending the situation at a glance, attempted to run and warn her husband. But they caught her and reproached her with wishing to betray her own people, and prevent them from taking a just vengeance on their enemies. She was a better wife than patriot, however; and eluding the grasp of those who detained her, she fled to warn Iri Ticatame. She arrived too late; the allied troops reached the town before her, and at once began the assault. The venerable chief of the Wanacaces, attacked and surrounded in his own house, defended himself valiantly for some time, but at last overpowered by numbers, he fell dead upon a heap of slain. His wife came up just at this moment, and in spite of all that could be done to prevent her, the devoted woman cast herself upon the body of the fierce old chief and refused to be removed or comforted. The victors then set fire to the place and retired, carrying with them the idol Curicaneri.
Ignorant of the misfortune which had fallen upon his house, Sicuiracha was hunting in a forest at some distance from the doomed town when the news was brought to him. He at once hastened to the spot, but arrived only to find his mother weeping upon the body of his father, amid the blazing buildings. Filled with rage at the sight, and thirsting for vengeance, he wasted no time in useless mourning, but calling together the few warriors who had escaped the massacre, he started in pursuit of the enemy. His force was so small that this seemed an act of madness; but fortune favors the brave. Elated with their victory, or as the old chronicle has it, prompted by the god they had stolen, the allied troops had given themselves up to drunkenness, and in this state the avengers found them. The idol stood neglected at the foot of an oak; seizing this, the Wanacaces rushed furiously upon their fallen foes. A great number were massacred, and the rest were carried in triumph to Wayameo, where Sicuiracha dwelt. For some time they were kept in the condition of slaves, but eventually they were released upon the understanding that their chiefs should recognize the supremacy of Sicuiracha, who now formally took the title of king. The new monarch rapidly increased his territory by conquering and annexing the numerous petty states that lay around it; he built several temples, notably one to Curicaneri, whom he regarded as the author of his greatness; increased the number of priests, and erected dwellings for them about the temples; enforced religious observances; and established his capital at Wayameo, where, after a long and glorious reign, he died, leaving the kingdom to his two sons, Pawacume and Wapeani.
THE TARASCOS ON LAKE PATZCUARO.
Shortly after the accession of these princes, events occurred in the flourishing region lying north of Wayameo, on the southern shore of Lake Patzcuaro, which affected the condition of the entire country, and eventually added greatly to the power of the Wanacace kings. The capital of this region was Tzintzuntzan. The chronicle I have hitherto followed gives no account of the origin of this city; but other authors, who in their turn make no mention of the events above recorded, furnish a story of its foundation, which I will relate here, before continuing the more consecutive narrative.
After the separation of the Tarascos from their Aztec brethren, says Beaumont, the former, resolving to settle, began at once to till the ground and sow the seeds that they had brought with them. They then proceeded to elect a king from among their bravest warriors. So highly was this quality of courage esteemed by them that even the later kings, who succeeded to the throne by inheritance, were not allowed to wear certain jewels and ornaments until they had earned the right to do so by capturing a prisoner in battle with their own hands. Under the administration of such energetic men the people progressed rapidly, both in wealth and power; commerce was encouraged and the arts and sciences flourished. But they especially excelled in feather-work, for which the splendid plumage of the birds of the country furnished abundant material.[X-59] This curious art is said to have been suggested by the phenomenon which led to the founding of their capital. When the Tarascos first halted on the southern shore of Lake Patzcuaro, they placed their principal idol in a pleasant spot that the god might repose, when, behold, a multitude of birds of gorgeous plumage congregated in the air and formed a brilliant shade or canopy above the sacred image. This was at once hailed as a divine indication that they should found their city here, and at the same time it suggested the feather mosaics for which they afterwards became so famous. In commemoration of this miraculous manifestation of the divine will the city was named Tzintzuntzan, 'place of celestial birds.'[X-60]
Little or nothing is known of the history of Tzintzuntzan from this time until it is again brought into notice by the events to which I have alluded as occurring shortly after Sicuiracha was succeeded by his sons on the throne at Wayameo. Granados, it is true, states that nineteen kings ruled over the Tarascos from the time of their settlement down to the conquest, but he gives no account of any of them, while Beaumont complains that he is able to find records of three only, namely, Characu, 'the boy king,' Zwanga,[X-61] and the son of the latter, Tangaxoan,[X-62] better known by the name of Caltzontzin, 'he who is always shod,' to distinguish him from those other rulers who, being vassals of the Aztec monarch, appeared bare-footed before their suzerain.[X-63] At what period the boy king lived it is impossible to tell, but as the other two certainly reigned at a later date than our story has yet reached, they may all be referred to hereafter.
THE GODDESS XARATANGA.
Let us now return to the anonymous narrative. At the time of Sicuiracha's death at Wayameo, three brothers named Tarigaran, Pacimwane, and Sucurawe were reigning in the region of which Tzintzuntzan was the capital. On a hill overlooking the lake stood the temple of their chief divinity, the goddess Xaratanga, whose son was named Manowapa. Now, the priests of this goddess obtained the wood which they burned in the temple from the forest of Atamataho, close to Wayameo, and they frequently took advantage of their proximity to the temple of Curicaneri to carry wood there, a courtesy which the Wanacace priests returned by occasionally bearing fuel to the sanctuary of Xaratanga. It happened one day, when the feast of the goddess was approaching, that Tarigaran and his two brothers, with their attendants, went to the temple to assist the priests to decorate the idol. But the princes had been drinking deeply, and the goddess, perceiving this, punished them for their irreverence by making them very drunk. Then the brothers became alarmed, and sent their women to the lake to procure fish, by eating which they hoped to dissipate the fumes of the liquor. But the outraged goddess had hidden the fish, and the women succeeded only in catching a large serpent, which they carried to the priests, who cooked it and ate of it together with the princes, at sunset. But no sooner had the strange food passed their lips than, to their horror, they all found themselves turned into serpents. Filled with terror and dismay they plunged into the lake and swam towards the mountain of Tiriacuri, amid the recesses of which they disappeared upon landing.