You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

Author:Álvaro Enrigue [Enrigue, Alvaro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2024-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

While He Who Looses the Rain of Words and Governs the Songs Lest We Be Like the Flowers and Bees That Last But a Few Days was singing the interminable Legend of the Suns, Tlilpotonqui remembered the moment when, at the end of the previous fall, the pipil sent by the emperor to the Gulf coast had returned with confirmation that the sporadic visitors from beyond the Mayapán had landed in imperial territory.

Sometime before, when Ahuitzotl was still tlatoani and Moctezuma was a formidable general more or less exiled to the role of head priest of the cult of Tezcatlipoca, there had been talk of the arrival of an unusual number of people from the islands begging for refuge from the Maya, because a cruel people from over the sea were ravaging their land. The Taino, who had braved the Gulf in their canoes because anything was better than remaining on their islands, had said the foreigners were ordinary men, but when there were many of them they became terrifying.

Then came the first Caxtilteca. They had appeared clinging to trunks or in broken canoes, starving, freezing, and scared to death. They hadn’t impressed anyone until one day they began to arrive in boats like houses, full of themselves. The first few times, they were spied from land. Then they landed in Cozumel and dared to cross the strait and loiter in the Mayapán. Finally they had sailed along the coast, setting foot in Totonac territories recently incorporated into the empire.

By the time of their landing on the Gulf beaches, rumors had been spreading for a while. It was said they had even founded a town beyond Lake Nicaragua; there was talk of fire-sticks and dogs and deer without antlers. This had interested the tlatoani, who at once understood that tame deer would be a strategic advantage. He saw himself riding into Tzintzuntzan, proud capital of the Purepecha, on deerback, forever to be known as the greatest Mexica emperor, he who broke the spine of invincible Michoacán.

When the bearded ones landed on the very shores of the empire, the huey tlatoani, the Council, and the cihuacoatl decided by common accord to send the Majordomo of the House of Darkness—another obtuse and irritating title—to the coast to greet them. At the meeting where this encounter was planned, Moctezuma said nothing about his interest in the deer. If anybody else realized it wasn’t the crossbows or fire-sticks but the beasts that were most valuable, they would be snatched away en route.

As He Who Looses the Rain of Words and Governs the Songs Lest We Be Like the Flowers and Bees That Last But a Few Days was reciting his poem—they were on the second sun now; three to go—Tlilpotonqui thought back on the moment when, in his opinion, Moctezuma’s luck had turned against him.

He remembered how vehemently he had argued against inviting Atotoxtli to their private briefing with the Majordomo of the House of Darkness upon the envoy’s return from his meeting with the Caxtilteca.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.