[campbkll] the ancient LITERATURE OF AMERICA 63 



Qquicluui hinguage of Peru. No less tlian eight editions of this have 

 been published, the last and best of which is that by the meritorious 

 scholar, Senor Gravino Pacheco Zegarra. The internal evidence of the 

 antiquity of this drama has been pronounced conclusive by all competent 

 Qquichua students." Mr. Clements E. Markham has published an English 

 version of it, entitled '• Ollanta, an Ancient Ynca Drama." Messrs. Eivero 

 and Tchudi, in their Peruvian Antiquities, incline to the belief that it 

 was composed in the latter half of ihe fifteenth century and represented 

 in the plaza of Cuzco before the Incas. 



Its full title is " Ollanta, or the Severity of a Father and the G-ener- 

 osity of a King.' The hero of the piece is the humbly born, but celebrated 

 Chief Ollanta, whose name is still preserved in a bridge, a fortress, and a 

 palace, and whose deeds are to this day well known among the Indians 

 of Peru. In his day Pachacutec was Inca, a king of invincible pride and 

 austere justice, in other words, a Roman parent and pagan divinity. His 

 beautiful daughter Cusi Coyllur returned the love of the brave and hand- 

 some young warrior. In spite of court etiquette and all precautions, 

 they contrived to have many meetings, and, licenses, banns, and marriage 

 ceremonies being next to unknown in Peru, they regarded themselves as 

 man and wife. Ollanta, anxious that their union should receive sanction 

 from the powers that be, waited upon Pachacutec and asked his majesty 

 to consent to his position as a son-in-law. The irate monarch rejected the 

 low-born warrior's suit with anger, scorn, and indignation, and drove him 

 from the palace gates. He called for Cusi Coyllur, upbraided her for her 

 base attachment, and threw her into prison. Not satisfied Avith this, soon 

 as he heard that her child was born, he order,ed this only solace to be 

 taken from her. Enraged at these barbarities, Ollanta gathered a band 

 of warriors and boldly attacked the empire. He took many fortified 

 places, and was at the height of his fortune when the harsh Pachacutec 

 died. This monarch was succeeded by his son and Cusi Coyllur's brother, 

 the Inca Yupanqui, a benevolent and generous ruler, who is reported to 

 have refused homage to the Sun because, in his daily round, he wa& 

 simply the bond servant of a greater and free master. His character 

 attached people to him, and chief among those devoted to his service wa& 

 Eumiftahui, a general worthy to compare with Ollanta. Rumihahui took 

 the field, drove OUanta's band from one refuge to another, and finally 

 captured him. Everyone looked for the hardy rebel's death, but the 

 magnanimous Yupanqui, putting himself in the prisoner's place, as Charles- 

 Reade would have said, freely pardoned him, and, to his great delight and 

 endless gratitude, restored to his strong arms Cusi Coyllur and her child. 

 Other characters who play a subordinate part are the Chief Priest of the 

 Temple of the Sun, Avho discountenances Ollanta in his suit and rebellion, 

 and one whom Dr. Brinton calls " a facetious youth who is constantly pun- 

 ning and joking," which, under the sad circumstances, was very wrongs 



Sec. II-, 1890. .5. 



