" He then dismissed them, after giving them a
quantity of cloth and a good supply of cacao,--the coin of the country.
"Go," he said; "with the little you now have, you will be rich; while,
with all my riches, I shall still be poor."
Of all the stories told of this famous monarch, there is only one not to
his credit, and of this we may speak in passing, as it bears a remarkable
resemblance to that told in the Bible of David and Uriah. He fell in love
with a beautiful maiden, who was betrothed to an old lord of his kingdom,
and to obtain her hand he bade the old man take command of a warlike
expedition against the Tlascalans. Two chiefs were bidden to keep near him
and bring him into the thick of the fight, that he might lose his life,
which the king said he had forfeited by a great crime. The old man
suspected what was meant, and said so in a farewell entertainment to his
friends. He was correct in his prophecy; like Uriah, he soon fell in
battle, and the royal lover's path was clear.
The king now secretly offered his hand and heart to the maiden, who was by
no means inconsolable for the loss of her old lover, and willingly
accepted.
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