m the
most ancient times, those women who have bent the knee to demon gods,
such as were the gods of Anahuac, are subject at any time to become
possessed by them, even after they have abandoned their worship, and to
be driven in their frenzy to the working of the greatest crimes. Thus,
among other instances, he told me that a Greek poet named Theocritus
sets out in one of his idyls how a woman called Agave, being engaged in
a secret religious orgie in honour of a demon named Dionysus, perceived
her own son Pentheus watching the celebration of the mysteries, and
thereon becoming possessed by the demon she fell on him and murdered
him, being aided by the other women. For this the poet, who was also a
worshipper of Dionysus, gave her great honour and not reproach, seeing
that she did the deed at the behest of this god, 'a deed not to be
blamed.'

Now I write of this for a reason, though it has nothing to do with me,
for it seems that as Dionysus possessed Agave, driving her to unnatural
murder, so did Huitzel possess Otomie, and indeed she said as much to me
afterwards. For I am sure that if the devils whom the Greeks worshipped
had such power, a still greater strength was given to those of Anahuac,
who among all fiends were the first. If this be so, as I believe, it was
not Otomie that I saw at the rites of sacrifice, but rather the demon
Huitzel whom she had once worshipped, and who had power, therefore, to
enter into her body for awhile in place of her own spirit.

CHAPTER XXXVI

THE SURRENDER

Taking Otomie in my arms, I bore her to one of the storehouses attached
to the temple. Here many children had been placed for safety, among them
my own son.

'What ails our mother, father?' said the boy. 'And why did she shut
me in here with these children when it seems that there is fighting
without?'

'Your mother has fainted,' I answered, 'and doubtless she placed you
here to keep you safe. Now do you tend her till I return.'

'I will do so,' answered the boy, 'but surely it would be better that I,
who am almost a man, should be without, fighting the Spaniards at your
side rather than within, nursing sick women.'

'Do as I bid you, son,' I said, 'and I charge you not to leave this
place until I come for you again.'

Now I passed out of the storehouse, shutting the door behind me. A
minute later I wished that I had stayed where I was, since on the
platform my eyes were greeted by a sight more dreadful than any