Page:The Incas of Peru.djvu/395

Pachacuti. Cusi Coyllur, remain thou here,
Thy mother's palace is thy home;
Fail not to amuse thyself,
Surrounded by thy maiden friends.

[Exeunt the Inca Pachacuti, the Ccoya Anahuarqui, and attendants.

Cusi Coyllur. I should better like a sadder song.
My dearest friends, the last you sang
To me foreshadowed evil things;^[1]
You who sang it leave me now.

[Exeunt boys and girls, except one girl who sings.

Two loving birds are in despair,^[2]
They moan, they weep, they sigh;
For snow has fallen on the pair,
To hollow tree they fly.

But lo! one dove is left alone
And mourns her cruel fate;
She makes a sad and piteous moan,
Alone without a mate.

She fears her friend is dead and gone—
Confirmed in her belief,
Her sorrow finds relief in song,
And thus she tells her grief.

'Sweet mate! Alas, where art thou now?
I miss thine eyes so bright,
Thy feet upon the tender bough,
Thy breast so pure and bright.'

1. In the tuya she sees her husband Ollantay, while the poor princess herself is the forbidden grain.
2. This is a yarahui or mournful elegy, of which there are so many in the Quichua language. The singers of them were known as yarahuec.

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