Sketches of Aboriginal Life
Sketches of Aboriginal Life
American Tableaux, No. 1
Free DownloadThe American Tableaux lay no claim to the respect and confidence, which is justly shown to authentic history; nor do they anticipate the ready favor usually accorded to high wrought romance. They are neither the one nor the other. The general outline is designed to be historical, and true to the characters of individuals, and the customs of nations and tribes; and the drapery in which it is arrayed is intended rather to illustrate the truth, and place it in bolder relief, than to weaken its force by irrelevant inventions.
Book Excerpt
urse--"Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial House of Tenochtitlan!" Casting down his instruments to the earth, and tearing his hair in the violence of his emotions, he prostrated himself on the altar, and poured forth a loud and earnest prayer to all his gods.
"Is there no favoring omen in any quarter, venerable father?" inquired the agitated messenger from the palace, when the prayer was ended--"is there no one of those bright spheres above us, that will deign to smile on the destiny of the young princess?"
"It is full of mysterious, portentous contradictions," replied the astrologer. "Good and evil influences contend for the mastery. The evil prevail, but the good are not wholly extinguished. The life of the princess will be a life of sorrow, but there will be a peculiar brightness in its end. Yet the aspect of every sign in the heavens is wo, and only wo, to the imperial House of Montezuma."
Faith in the revelations of astrology was a deeply rooted superstition with the Aztecs. It pervaded the
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