“I will tell you all about him,” said José, nothing loath to recount a story dear to his heart, and as familiar in all its details to his memory as the simplest Scripture narrative would be to a well-instructed European child of his age. “He was the seventh Inca after Manco Capac.” And here he paused again with doubtful look; so strange was the ignorance displayed by his benefactor, that he would not now have been astonished if the monk had asked, “And who was Manco Capac?” Fray Fernando knew that, however. “I have heard,” he said, “that the founder of your monarchy, falsely called a Child of the Sun, taught agriculture and the useful arts to a people whom he found sunk in barbarism.” “Our Father the Sun pitied the poor ignorant people, and he sent his children to teach them” said José, telling the tale as it had been told to him, and as indeed it is still usually told to us. “Manco Capac taught the men to sow and reap and build houses; and Mama Ocella, his wife, taught the women to spin and weave. Moreover, they both taught every one to be just and gentle, and to keep the five great laws:—‘Do not be idle; Do not lie; Do not steal; Do not commit adultery; Do not kill.’ The Incas who reigned after him, his sons and sons’ sons, did likewise. They built temples, and schools, and forts; they made good roads and inns, and great water-courses, that the earth might be watered and bring forth fruit, and that every one might have food to eat. And they ploughed the land with their own hands, that the poor man might not say the prince bade him do that which he would not do himself. They let no man want; they did justice to all; they were called the friends of the poor. That was the name best loved by the Inca—‘Friend of the Poor.’” “But were they not also great warriors and conquerors?” asked Fray Fernando, thinking of the enormous tract of country over which the Inca’s sway extended at the time of the Spanish conquest. “Yes; they spread the dominion of the Sun far and wide—partly because they were brave warriors, partly because men saw that it was good to obey them, for all their subjects had peace and plenty. Often wild tribes would send messengers to the Incas, asking them to rule over them and to teach them. But even to those who fought against them they were kind and gentle; many times offering them pardon and friendship, and sparing them and showing them mercy whenever they could.