Chapter 13

The Pampa Moroni, a street in Cuzco. Enter RUMI-ÑAUI (L.)[54] in a long black cloak with a train, and PIQUI CHAQUI (R.), meeting each other.

RUMI-ÑAUI. Whence, Piqui Chaqui, comest thou? Dost thou here seek Ollantay’s fate?

PIQUI CHAQUI. Cuzco, great lord, is my birthplace; I hasten back unto my home. I care not more to pass my days In dismal and profound ravines.

RUMI-ÑAUI. Tell me, Ollantay—what does he?

PIQUI CHAQUI. He is busy now entangling An already entangled skein.

RUMI-ÑAUI. What skein?

PIQUI CHAQUI. Should you not give me some present If you want me to talk to you.

RUMI-ÑAUI. With a stick will I give thee blows, With a rope I will hang thee.

PIQUI CHAQUI. O, do not frighten me!

RUMI-ÑAUI. Speak then.

PIQUI CHAQUI. Ollantay. Is it Ollantay? I can remember no more.

RUMI-ÑAUI. Piqui Chaqui! Take care!

PIQUI CHAQUI. But you will not listen! I am turning blind, My ears are getting deaf, My grandmother is dead, My mother is left alone.

RUMI-ÑAUI. Where is Ollantay? Tell me.

PIQUI CHAQUI. I am in want of bread, And the Paccays[55] are not ripe. I have a long journey to-day— The desert is very far off.

RUMI-ÑAUI. If you continue to vex me I will take your life.

PIQUI CHAQUI. Ollantay, is it? He is at work. Ollantay! He is building a wall, With very small stones indeed; They are brought by little dwarfs— So small that to be a man’s size They have to climb on each other’s backs. But tell me, O friend of the King,[56] Why art thou in such long clothes, Trailing like the wings of a sick bird[57]— As they are black it is better.

RUMI-ÑAUI. Hast thou not seen already That Cuzco is plunged in grief? The great Inca Pachacuti[58] is dead, All the people are in mourning, Every soul is shedding tears.

PIQUI CHAQUI. Who, then, succeeds to the place Which Pachacuti has left vacant? If Tupac Yupanqui succeeds, That Prince is the youngest There are some others older.[59]

RUMI-ÑAUI. All Cuzco has elected him, For the late king chose him, Giving him the royal fringe; We could elect no other.

PIQUI CHAQUI. I hasten to bring my bed here.[60]

(Exit running.)