position of long and short verses, with the right number of syllables in each."[1]
Markham finds evidence of "four different kinds of plays called Anay Sauca, a joyous representation, Hayachuca, Llama-llama, a farce, and Hanamsi, a tragedy. There is clear proof that the memory of the old dramatic lore was preserved, and that the dramas were handed down by memory even after the Spanish conquest. It is to be found in the sentence pronounced on the rebels at Cuzco, by the Judge Areche, in 1781, which prohibited 'the representation of dramas, as well as all other festivals which the Indians celebrated in memory of their Incas'."[2]
A few complete plays have been recorded in later times, the most famous of which is Ollantay. As to what effect the intervening years of Spanish control had upon the literary form of this production is now a matter of debate, but since Ollantay was preserved in the native tongue, the presumption is that it has suffered little. The reader is referred to Markham's translation[3] and discussion for a statement of the case, and to our page 141 for a selection of Inca verse.
There is reason to believe that the early peoples of Mexico also had achieved something in the dramatic art, though good examples have not survived. Even among the Pueblo villages of the United States there are still native festivals in which there appear performances that deserve recognition as dramas.[4] This is true, to a less degree, of certain ceremonies among the outlying tribes of both continents.
While the content we have given to the term literature is far wider than the modern concept of books,[5] the Maya and Aztec did have some written literature. Brinton quotes the Spanish writer, Landa (1565), as follows:—
The sciences that they (Maya) taught were the reckoning of the years, months, and days, the feasts and ceremonies, the administration of their sacraments, the fatal days and seasons, their methods of divination and prophecies, events about to happen, remedies for diseases, their ancient history, together with the art of reading and writing their books with characters which were written, and pictures which represented the things written.
