- (General lamentation outside.)
Having been rolled just like a stone,
My heart has now become a stone.[1]
Tupac Yupanqui. Know that tocarpus are prepared.
Remove those traitors from my sight,
Let them all perish, and at once.
Rumi-ñaui. Take these three men without delay
To the dreaded execution stakes;
Secure them with unyielding ropes,
And hurl them from the lofty rocks.
Tupac Yupanqui. Stop! Cast off their bonds.
- (The guards unbind them. They all kneel.)
(To Ollantay, kneeling). Rise from thy knees; come to my side.
- (Rises.)
Now thou hast seen death very near,
You that have shown ingratitude,
Learn how mercy flows from my heart;
I will raise thee higher than before,
Thou wert Chief of Anti-suyu,
Now see how far my love will go;
I make thee Chief in permanence.
Receive this plume[2] as general,
This arrow[2] emblem of command.[3]
- ↑ Rumi-ñaui at it again: for ever ringing changes on his name—rumi, a stone.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The plume and the arrow were the insignia of a general.
- ↑ Rather a staggerer for Rumi-ñaui! Perhaps, too, the change is too sudden, and infringes the probabilities. Tupac Yupanqui may have thought that his father had been unjust and that there were excuses. It is known that the young Inca was indignant at some other cruelties of his father. As a magnanimous warrior he may have despised the treacherous methods of Rumi-ñaui. He may have valued Ollantay's known valour and ability, and have been loth to lose his services. All these considerations may have influenced him more or less. The rebels were the best men he had.
