Tupac Yupanqui. What horrid cavern do I see?
Who is this woman? what means it?
What cruel wretch thus tortures her?
What means that chain bound around her?
Mama Ccacca, come near to me;
What hast thou to say to this?
Is it the effect of malice
That this poor creature lingers here?
Mama Ccacca. It was thy father's dread command;
A punishment for lawless love.
Tupac Yupanqui. Begone! begone! harder than rock.[1]
Turn out that puma and the snake,[2]
Break down that door of carved stone.
(To Mama Ccacca.) Let me not see thy face again.
A woman living as a bat;
This child has brought it all to light.
- (Enter Pitu Salla with water. She sprinkles it over Cusi Coyllur, who revives.)
Cusi Coyllur. Where am I? who are these people?
Yma Sumac, my beloved child,
Come to me, my most precious dove.
Who are all these men before me?
- (She begins to faint again and is restored by water.)
Yma Sumac. Fear not, my mother, 'tis the King;
The King himself comes to see you.
- ↑ Ccacca means a rock.
- ↑ My former translation, and those of Barranca and Tschudi, treated puma and amaru (snake) as epithets applied to Mama Ccacca. Zegarra considers that the puma and snake were intended to be actually in the dungeon, and I believe he is right. The puma would not have hurt his fellow-prisoner. Unpleasant animals were occasionally put into the prisons of criminals. The Incas kept pumas as pets.
