After Mass, An Exchange: Spaniards In The New World, Easter 1519

It was Easter, 1519. After Mass, both Bernal Diaz and the 'First Letter of Cortés' say that a local chieftain returned bringing many gold and other precious items of great worth to offer to Cortés. He was a person of some significance but what that might mean is obscured by the treasure he brought. Diaz says he was a chieftain sent from Moctezuma and called him Tendile (and the Editor corrects that to "Teudilli"), but there is no name or reference to the Aztec leader in the 'First Letter' account. That 'First Letter' for this story has the chieftain place the items on a white cloth and then, after thanks from Cortés, leaves. From this point, the 'First Letter' talks about the desires of the men to establish a colony outside of the support of or for the benefit of Velazquez. Instead, this colony would be for the benefit of the king, as told here. The language of that 'special pleading' will be looked at later on.

But Bernal Diaz gives us quite a story. The details of the many items given, the sequence of events, the altar Cortés had made as a gift, the official painters who made portraits of Cortés and his men, of the effect of the cannons on these locals, the show of horses on the dunes, the gifting of a rusty helmet, the request for that helmet to be returned with gold, all are written out. This too in some ways conforms to the Nahua tale, and also to typical encounters in Yucatan, except for this encounter taking place on land and not on the ships and, probably, three days later. As example of the focus of our narrator Bernal Díaz: "Cortés ... ordered that an altar be made, the best that could be done at the time, and fray Bartolomé de Olmedo, who was a great singer, sang the mass, the father Juan Díaz assisted, and the two governors and other chieftains of their company were at the mass." [pp. 57-8]

The 'two governors' were called by Díaz illustrious, and Teudilli specifically was called, 'a man of business'. After they ate, Cortés withdrew with the interpreters and these two  'servants of the great Montezuma'. Díaz even gives a tiny bit of 'dialogue'.

"... and he told them we were Christians and vassals of the greatest lord in the world, the emperor don Carlos, who has many great lords as vassals and servants, and that we came to these land by his order, because for many years don Carlos has known of them and of the great lord who rules them, and he wanted to have that great lord as a friend and tell him many things in his royal name; also ... he would be pleased ... to trade with him and his vassals, and he would like to know where his lordship rules so that they might meet. Tendile replied somewhat haughtily, "You have just now arrived and you already want to speak to him. Receive this present now that we give you in the name of our lord, and then you will tell me what might suit you." He then pulled many beautifully worked, rich pieces of gold from a ... basket, ... things amazing to see, other things that I do not remember, and a lot of food.... Cortés received it graciously and with smiles, and he gave them twisted beads...." [p. 58]

 "Tendile ... brought with him great painters ... to paint from life the face, expression, body, and features of Cortés and all the captains and soldiers, as well as the ships and sails, horses, doña Marina, and Aguilar, even the two hounds, the cannons and balls, and our whole army, and he carried the paintings to his lord. Cortés then ordered the artilleryman to have the cannons well loaded with a good load of powder so that when they were fired, there would be a huge noise." [p. 59]

It was Teudilli that saw the rusty helmet and remarked it looked like something "... left to them by their ancestors in the lineage from which they came, and they had put that one on their god Huichilobos..." which the Editor corrects in the footnote as Huitzilopochtli, identified as "the tribal deity of the Mexica, the god of war and associated with the sun." [p. 60]
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Meanwhile, in Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma anxiously waited for the return of his messengers.

All quotes from from Bernal Díaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012