CHAPTER VI
THE STOLEN CHILD
A strange and unlooked-for event cast a shadow, though only for a brief period, over the Inca Rocca's life. He had married a very beautiful girl named Micay, the daughter of a neighbouring chief who ruled over a small tribe called Pata Huayllacan.[1] She was the mother of four princes: Cusi Hualpa, the heir, Paucar, Huaman, and Vicaquirau, the future general.
We are told that Micay, the Inca's wife, had previously been promised by her father to Tocay Ccapac, the powerful chief of the Ayamarcas, a much more numerous tribe than the Huayllacans. Her marriage with the Inca caused a deadly feud between those two tribes. Hostilities were continued for a long time, and at last the Huayllacans prayed for peace. It was granted, but with a secret clause that the chief of the Huayllacans would entice away the Inca's eldest son and heir, and deliver him into the hands of his father's enemy, the chief of the Ayamarcas. If this condition was not complied with, Tocay Ccapac declared that he would continue the war until the Huayllacans were blotted out of existence.
- ↑ Huaylla, green, fresh; can, he is.
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