The Irish standard., 1896-02-01
Ne heard and gathered up our cour-

The door opened and Nahua came
through it, dressed in the robes ct her
rank, and wearing. the green diadem
that could be carried only by the wife
or mother Of the cacique.
'sWhat is your pleasure with me,
lords?' she said proudly after she had
made her obeisance to the altar.
Then the priest of the Records rose
and read the charge, namely, that she
had attempted with her own hand to do
murder upon the body Of the infant
child of Maya, Lady of the Heart, and
her husband, the white man, and also
that she had aided and Allotted Tikal,
her husband, in various acts of cruelty
and misgovernment that were alleged
against him, asking her what she
pleaded in answer.
ITO the last charge; not guilty"
she said. LET Tikal defend his own
sins. To the first, guilty. / did at
tempt to put an end to yonder brat, but
MAYA discovered me, and was caught
. and bound" ut
Surely, brethren,'' said Di1nas, ris-
ing, sFwe need carry this matter no fur
ther. We have heard the. evidence OF
Lady Maya and the Others. and now
Nahua confesses to her crime. She
confcsses that She. attempted to take
the life of him whom she knew to be
the sacred child, the hope of the Peo-
pie of the Heart, and for such sin it
seems to me that there is but one pun
ishment, though it is terrible, and she
who must suffer it is woman and OF
high rank"
''Stay.' broke in Nahua You have
mot heard mo out and have the right
to speak before am condemned to die.
You charge me with having attempted
to take the life of THE" sacred"c child, the
hope Of the People of the Heart and
had done this, doubtless 1 should be
worthy of your doom, whereas, in truth,
I am worthy of your praise. -.
Lords of the. Hea,gt this child whom
you adore, the Heaven sent child OF
prophecy, whom tonight you would
anoint as your cacique, deposing Tilsal,
shall be the star to light our race to
greatness and to victory, is a living lie,
a fraud and a bastard."
Now a confusion broke out among
the council, and angry voices called to
her to cease her blasph emies, but she
won silence and went on:
Hear me out, pray you, for even if
wished it should not dare to speak
thus at random, but am prepared with
proof Of every word 1 utter. You think
that | would have skilled this child to
wiring the heart of my rival Maya, and,
indeed, wish to wiring it. and that l
would set my own son in his place, and,
indeed, wish to set him there, and yet
these were not my reasons for the
deed. ....-.s
Lords Of the council, listen to a tale,
the strangest that you have heard, and
Judge between me and Tikal, my hus-
band, and Maya. my rival, and her
friends. Natal, my father, was known
to you all, seeing that at the time OF
his death, and, indeed, since Tilal was
appointed cacique, he stood next to him
in place and power among the People
of the Heart, holding the offices in the
brotherhood which now are filled by
Dimas, and among them that OF
keeper of the sahctuary.
yet, lords, Ma ttai my father, was
no true man. Alas! that T. should have
to say it., seeing that it was more for
my sake that he sinned than for his
own, since he loved me and desired my
welfare above everything on earth. 1t
was this love of his that ruined him,
making him false to his god, to his
oaths, and to his coun try. Thus, in the
beginning, he knew that since was a
child l had set nv heart On the Lord
Tikal, who was atfianced to the Lady
Maya, and also that | was ambitious
and desired to be great.
Therefore it was that he deceived
Tikal, pretending that it had been re-
vealed to him by Heaven that the Lady
Maya and her father were dead in the
wilderness. Therefore it was also that
when he had persuaded him that she
was lost to him forever, he pressed it
upon the Lord Tikal that he should
marry me in place of Maya, his
atsianced: who was dead, promising him
in return that he would bring it about
that he should be, anointed cacique of
the People of the Heart. ,4-
s'All these things and others he did,
though at that time knew nothing of
them and thought in my folly that
Tilxal married me because he loved me
and desired me as the companion of his
life and power. ~,
'sThen zibalbay returned on the
night of my marriage feast, and with
him came Maya and the strangers, and
from that hour my husband began to
hate me, because / was his wife in
place Of Maya, whom he loved. More,
as l have learned since, he went to Iii
balbay while lie lay ia prison and Of
fered to resign his place as cacique in
his favor for so long, as he should live,
would give him Maya in marriage after
I had been put away either2by death or
by divorce. -
''This Zibalbay would have done, and
gladly, but, as it CHANGED, Maya here
had set her heart upon the white man
during their journeyings together
through the wilderness, and refused to
be separated from him that she might
be palmed off in marriage upon Tikal.
Yet he might have won his way, for
their case was desperate, and the alter
native was death, had not Natal, my
father, found a plan whereby they
could be saved and ]. remain the wife OF
the cacique. - .< %--'
'sThis was the plan, lords: that a
prophecy should be set III. the symbol of
the Heart wonder sl1chas would deceive
the Council of the Heart and bring it
about that Maya should be"given in
marriage to the white man whom she
loved Lords, this was. done. AT the
dead of night they crcpt to.the sanctu-
airy, and opening the Heart, placed with
in it that tablet which you have seen,
the tablet that foreshadowed the: birth
of deliverer. The2rest YOU know.
SIT is false cried many voices.
"Such sacrilege is not possible
''It is not FALSE" answered Nahua,
s'and l will prove to you that the sacri-
lege was possible. The Heart was
opened and the false prophecy forged
by my father was PLACED within it,
where it was found BY You on the night
of the festival of the Rising OF Waters,
this day last year. But when the holy
Heart was opened, behold! it was not
ennt1- for in IL Law another prophecy