The Written World: How Literature Shaped History by Martin Puchner

Author:Martin Puchner [Puchner, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781783783151
Publisher: Granta Publications
Published: 2017-11-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

THE POPOL VUH AND MAYA CULTURE: A SECOND, INDEPENDENT LITERARY TRADITION

A TRAP AND A BOOK

1532, PERU

THE SPANISH SOLDIERS HAD BEEN LYING IN WAIT ALL DAY. AFRAID AND exhausted after their long sea journey down the coast from Panama and the never-ending hike up the mountains, they had few provisions and few prospects. On the way, many had given up hope of ever getting a foothold in this strange land, with its well-kept roads, impressive buildings, and above all gold. But just when their campaign had seemed hopeless, news had reached them that the Inca emperor, Atahualpa, was nearby. Contact had been made and the Spaniards had been invited to spend the night here in this town, to meet His Highness the next day.

The next morning, their commander, Francisco Pizarro, decided to risk everything on this one chance. He divided his 106 foot soldiers and 62 horsemen into three groups and hid them in buildings around a square. The Indians were afraid of horses, so he attached bells to them to heighten their effect. Their two cannon were in position. Only twenty soldiers remained with Pizarro. On a signal, they would all rush toward Atahualpa and seize him.

As they lay waiting, a messenger came informing them that Atahualpa would not be coming today after all. Pizarro knew that his exhausted soldiers could not bear the tension any longer. The trap would work now or never. Desperate, he sent one of his people to the emperor, inviting him in the politest terms to visit today. Nothing happened.

Suddenly they saw movement in the camp. First a few, then a hundred, finally thousands of the emperor’s attendants were swarming into formation. A litter became visible, and then the whole train began to move toward them, with pomp befitting the ruler of a vast realm. Before long the retinue entered the square and Atahualpa’s bearers set down the litter. Pizarro was jubilant. They would use their superior weapons, swords made of the best Toledo steel, crossbows firing with precision and power. Their muskets and cannon, though cumbersome to load and use, were terrifying because of their novelty. The most useful domestic animal in South America was the llama, little more than a large sheep, completely useless in warfare, in comparison to the armored horses bearing Spanish riders. Even more important was the weapon Pizarro and his men had brought unwittingly: smallpox, to which the Indians were not immune. An epidemic of gigantic proportions had preceded Pizarro, triggering a bloody civil war, which had further weakened the empire. Pizarro and his men were battling a civilization already under serious assault.

The Spanish had another weapon that has attracted much less attention, perhaps because it was so small, barely the size of two outstretched hands. A number of witnesses nevertheless noticed it being deployed at the center of the trap Pizarro had set for Atahualpa. Pizarro didn’t handle it himself, but he sent an expert, a Dominican friar named Valverde, to place it right in front of the emperor.

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