Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/184

 Rh his luxurious habits of life, operating, most probably, upon a temperament naturally unresisting and indolent, induced him to allow a foothold to the Spaniards, who might have been crushed by his armies at a single blow. Instead of striking that blow, he indulged in recollecting the legends of his forefathers; and scarcely had his future conqueror entered the Capital, when he hinted the fate to which his country was at last subjected. "It is long since we knew from our ancestors," said he, "that neither I nor all who inhabit their lands were originally of them, but that we are strangers, and came hither from distant places. It was said that a great lord brought our race to these parts and returned to the land of his birth, and yet, came back once more to us. But, in the mean time, those whom he first brought had intermarried with the women of the country; and when he desired them to return again to the land of their fathers they refused to go. He went alone; and ever since have we believed, that from among those who were the descendants of that mighty lord, one shall come to subdue this land and make us his vassals! According to what you declare of the place whence you come, (which is toward the rising sun,) and of the great lord who is your King, we must surely believe that he is our natural lord."

Cortéz was by no means disposed to deny it!