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“Verily, minstrel, much familiarity with song has given you courtly speech.”

      “I have courtly friends, and only borrow their words. This place is fair, but to my dull fancy it seems that a maiden would prefer the great hall, unless she has a grief to indulge.”

      “O, I have a great grief,” she returned; “though I do borrow it as you your words.”

      “Then you love some one who is unhappy. I understand. Is this child in your service?” he asked, looking at Yeteve.

      “Call it mine. She loves me well enough to serve me.”

      The minstrel struck the strings of his harp softly, as if commencing a mournful story.

      “I have a friend,” he said, “a prince and warrior, whose presence here is banned. He sits in his palace to-night, and is visited by thoughts such as make men old in their youth. He has seen much of life, and won fame, but is fast finding that glory does not sweeten misfortune, and that of all things, ingratitude is the most bitter. His heart is set upon a noble woman; and now, when his love is strongest, he is separated from her, and may not say farewell. O, it is not in the ear of a true woman that lover so unhappy could breathe his story in vain. What would the princess Nenetzin do, if she knew a service of hers might soothe his great grief?”

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      1

      Fernando De Alva Iztlilzochitl.

      2

      The goddess Cioacoatl, called “Our Lady and Mother.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

      3

      Carrier slaves, or porters.

      4

      In Aztec mythology, God of the Air.

      5

      Equivalent to Pontiff or Pope.

      6

      Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

      7

      Ixtlilxochitl, son of Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco.

      8

      King of Tezcuco.

      9

      See Prescott’s Conq. of Mexico.

      10

      Guatamozin, nephew to Montezuma. Of him Bernal Diaz says: “This monarch was between twenty-three and twenty-four years of age, and could in all truth be called a handsome man, both as regards his countenance and figure. His face was rather of an elongated form, with a cheerful look; his eye had great expression, both when he assumed a majestic expression, or when he looked pleasantly around; the color of his face inclined to white more than to the copper-brown tint of the Indians in general.”—Diaz, Conquest of Mexico, Lockhart’s Trans., Vol. IV., p. 110.

      11

      Prescott’s Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 417.

      12

      The God of War,—aptly called the “Mexican Mars.”

      13

      There was a fire for each altar in the temples which was inextinguishable; and so numerous were the altars, and so brilliant their fires, that they kept the city illuminated throughout the darkest nights. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p 72.

      14

      The Aztec currency consisted of bits of tin, in shape like a capital T, of quills of gold-dust, and of bags of cocoa, containing a stated number of grains. Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

      15

      Temple. The term appears to have applied particularly to the temples of the god Huitzil’.—Tr.

      16

      Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

      17

      The Mexican Hell. The owl was the symbol of the Devil, whose name signifies “the rational owl.”

      18

      Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista.

      19

      The Divine Book, or Bible. Ixtlil’s Relaciones M.S.

      20

      A kind of emerald, used altogether by the nobility. Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

      21

      Or capilli,—the king’s crown. A panache was the head-dress of a warrior.

      22

      A garment of coarse white material, made from the fibre of the aloe, and by court etiquette required to be worn by courtiers and suitors in the king’s presence. The rule appears to have been of universal application.

      23

      ’Tzin was a title equivalent to lord in English. Guatamotzin, as compounded, signifies Lord Guatamo.

      24

      The great market-place or square of Tlateloco. The Spaniards called it tianguez. For description, see Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. II., Book IV. Bernal Diaz’s Work, Hist. de la Conq.

      25

      Iztacoihuatl.

      26

      Popocatepetl.

      27

      Cortes’ squadron reached the mouth of the river Tabasco on the 12th of March, 1519.

      28

      Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

      29

      God of the sea.

      30

      The allusion was doubtless to the expeditions of Hernandez de Cordova, in 1517, and Juan de Grijalva, in 1518.

      31

      These are the proper names of the queens.

1

Fernando De Alva Iztlilzochitl.

2

The

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