Chapter Nine: MALINALI’S PRAYER

Chapter Nine: Malinali’s Prayer

When Malinali finished her story, Cortez spoke to her directly. She had learned enough Spanish to mostly understand him.

“Doña Marina, you know now that I am a man, and not this Mesheeka god, yes?”

She nodded.

“Yet the Mesheeka king does not think I am a man just like him – he believes instead that I could actually be one of his gods?”

She nodded again.

Cortez crossed himself. He looked at Aguilar. “These Mesheeka are stranger and more evil than I thought possible, Jeronimo. Their religion is the worship of Satan himself, the gods they worship are devils – except for one god, this Quetzacoatl, who preaches good not evil. And it is him they are afraid of, it is him they have somehow confused with me. What is it they are afraid of?”

Aguilar shrugged. Cortez’s dark eyes shifted to Malinali.

She heard her father’s voice. “Ixkakuk – now is the time to talk of my dream�”

“Captain Cortez – if my father were here, he could tell you what frightens the Mesheeka. He�” she was trying to say this in Spanish and glanced at Aguilar for help.

“Please continue, Doña Marina,” Aguilar soothed her. “If you have trouble with your words, I will help.”

Her eyes thanked him. “My father hated the Mesheeka” she continued. “They are in constant warfare with other kingdoms and peoples to capture victims for sacrifice. The Mesheeka have so many warriors, their army is so enormous, that no one kingdom can oppose them. My father had a dream. He told me he dreamed that several kingdoms joined together to destroy the Mesheeka. If my father were here�” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself� “he would say what the Mesheeka are afraid of is that you can make this dream come true, that the Great Montezuma fears Quetzacoatl has come to unite the other kingdoms against him.”

Malinali stood still in front of Cortez, trying hard not to breathe too heavily, telling her heart to stop racing, while Cortez looked up at her from his chair and seemed to be looking right into her soul.

“Your father was an interesting man, Doña Marina,” observed Cortez.

“My father�” She faltered. She still missed her Tahtli so badly – and she had sworn never to reveal herself to her masters whomever they be, even these Spaniards. Yet she felt her soul leaping into Cortez’s eyes.

“My father,” she announced, rising straight and tall, “was a great man, a noble man. He was King of Paynala, the largest kingdom in Cuatzacualco. He knew so much, and taught me so much. He was teaching me how to be� to be�” She stopped. Why was she revealing herself like this? She should stop and say nothing more! But Cortez’s eyes compelled her to go on.

“My father was raising me to be Queen of Paynala,” she said, looking straight at Cortez. “But in my 12th winter, he� died. At first I thought I would become Queen as soon as I became of age. Then my mother married my uncle and they had a son who they wanted to be King. One day I was a Princess and to become a Queen. So quickly this changed. I became an obstacle. This is why my mother�” she heaved a sigh� “sold me.”

“Sold you?!” both Aguilar and Cortez exclaimed.

“Yes, I was sold as a tlacotli – a slave – to the Pontochans.”

“Your own mother sold you into slavery?” Cortez asked incredulously.

All she could do was nod.

Cortez stood up, and gently took Malinali’s hands into his. “Doña Marina,” he told her, “you said your father was a noble man. I can see that you are a noble woman. There is nobility in your soul, not the servility of a slave.”

She looked up at him. “You have also shown great loyalty to me,” Cortez told her, “by revealing to me what is in the hearts of the Mesheeka. This loyalty must be rewarded.”

He released her hands and stepped back. “Señor Aguilar,” he said firmly, “I announce in your presence that Doña Marina is no longer our servant or slave, but a free woman. If she chooses to remain with us, it must be of her own free will.”

Aguilar stifled a gasp, while Malinali’s eyes teared in unbelieving gratitude and widened with bewilderment. She wanted to say so much, but all that she could do was stammer, “But what of Don Alonso?”

Cortez hesitated in thought for just a second. “I will deal with that excellent gentleman. Señor Puertocarrero is one of my finest men. He has treated you well?”

“Yes,” Malinali replied. “He is a good man.”

“I must treat him with the respect he deserves. Until this is resolved, however, I must ask of you both that word of my decision not depart this tent.”

They both of course assented.

“One more request. Señor Aguilar, see that you redouble your efforts to have Doña Marina learn Spanish even more quickly than she already is.” It was the first time Cortez smiled at her.

* * * * *

Malinali and Aguilar resumed their long walks on the beach. Don Alonso was always busy now with assignments Cortez gave him. At times they were joined by one of the soldiers whom Aguilar asked to help Malinali with her Spanish. He and Malinali soon became friends. His name was Bernal Diaz del Castillo.

He told her to call him Bernal. “I am from a region in Spain called Castille,” he told her. “My town is small but famous. It is Medina del Campo, and near it many great battles were fought between Spanish Christians and invaders from Africa we called Moors who believe in a false god named Allah and follow a false prophet named Mohammed. Our great Queen, Isabella, who with her King Ferdinand of Aragon, finally conquered the Moors’ last stronghold in Grenada the year I was born.(1) My town is where she died.(2)

“My father, Don Francisco, was the town Regidor (magistrate), but I grew up hearing stories of a New World on the other side of the great ocean which we call the Atlantic. So as a young man of 22, I made my way to our great city of Seville and joined a ship sailing to Darien (3) as a soldier. Then I learned that my cousin, Don Diego Velasquez, was made Governor of the island of Cuba, so that is where I went.

“But Don Diego was of little help, so I joined the expedition of Hernandez de Cordoba two years ago, then that of Juan de Grijalva last year. And here I am again now.”

“Where is Captain Cortez from?” Malinali wanted to know. “Is he also from this� Castille?”

“Yes,” Bernal replied, “but a remote region of Castille called Extremadura. Many of us are from there, like Pedro de Alvarado and his brothers who come from the town of Badajoz. Captain Cortez comes from the town of Medellin, as do Gonzalo de Sandoval and Don Alonso Puertocarrero.”

“Captain Cortez and Don Alonso are from the very same city?” asked Malinali.

“Yes,” said Bernal, “but I do not think they knew each other until they met in Cuba.”

“What is this ‘Cuba’ you talk about?” Malinali wanted to know.

“It is the large island that lies only two days’ sail from the Yucatan where we found Aguilar,” replied Bernal. “What is your name for it?”

“We know of no such island. All of the East Ocean is a mystery to us,” Malinali admitted.

Bernal stopped. He turned and looked at the sea, lost in thought. “My comrades and I have wondered about this,” he said after a moment. “The people we have seen here, the Mayans, the Mesheeka, your people of Cuatzacualco, they are not primitivos, primitive people like those who live on the islands like Cuba. You are civilizados, civilized people who build houses and temples of stone, read and write, make beautiful art, and have a complicated culture. Why is it then, that no one here makes boats and explored the East Ocean as you call it? Why is it that we have found you, and not you� us?”

Malinali shrugged. “That is a question to ask the gods.”

Bernal nodded. “Yes, Doña Marina, we have asked that question – and our answer is that the One True God of our Savior has guided us here so that we may bring the Word of God to the Mesheeka and end their worship of devil gods who drink human blood.”

“Señor Bernal,” she replied earnestly, “you know that I am now a Christian like you. This is my prayer also, that you and Captain Cortez have come so that the Christian Savior will fulfill my father’s dream.”

NOTES:

1. 1492.
2. November 26, 1504.
3. Panama.