Note 209 — Chapter IX

In my review of the language and literature of the Incas in a former work (Cuzco and Lima, chap. vi.) I gave some translated extracts from the drama of Ollantay, and an abstract of the plot. I then stated that it was an ancient play, which had been handed down from the time of the Incas; but I have since discovered that Dr. Valdez was its author, although it contains several ancient songs and speeches, and though the plot is undoubtedly ancient. I was led into the error by the opinion expressed by the Peruvian antiquary, Mariano Rivero,[210] a very high authority, that the drama had been handed down from the time of the Incas.

The original MS. is now in the possession of Don Narciso Cuentas, of Tinta, the nephew and heir of Dr. Valdez; but there are numerous MS. copies in Peru, and it has been printed at the end of Dr. Von Tschudi's Kechua Sprache.

There is a review of this Quichua drama of Dr. Valdez, in the Museo Erudito (Nos. 5 to 9), a periodical published at Cuzco in 1837, by the editor, Don José Palacios. He says that the story respecting Ollantay was handed down by immemorial tradition, but that the drama was written by Dr. Valdez. The writer criticizes the plot, objecting that the treason of Ollantay is rewarded, while the heroic conduct of Rumi-ñaui remains unnoticed. Palacios had inquired of Don Juan Hualpa, a noble Cacique of Belem in Cuzco, and of the Caciques of San Sebastian and San Blas, who agreed in their account of the tradition, which was that the rebellion of Ollantay arose from the abduction of an Aclla or Virgin of the Sun from her convent, but they had not heard her name, nor who she was.

These particulars respecting the origin of the drama of Ollantay may be interesting to readers who have paid any attention to the history of the civilization of the Incas. Though not so ancient as I once supposed, the drama is still very curious, because it contains songs and long passages of undoubted antiquity.