t represented the blessed Virgin Mary: she was now high
in the heavens above, and was the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom
she held in her arms, conceived by the Holy Ghost; that she was a virgin
before, after, and during his birth. She was our mediator with her
heavenly Son, our God.

To this he added many other things concerning our holy religion, and
concluded by saying: "If you are, indeed, our brothers, and you are
really inclined to conclude a lasting peace with us, and if we are to
take and keep your daughters as affectionate husbands should do, they
must abandon their horrible idols, and believe in the Lord God whom we
adore. They would soon discover the beneficial effect of this; blessings
would be showered down upon them, the seasons would be fruitful, and all
their undertakings would prosper; after death their souls would be
transplanted to heaven, and partake of eternal glory; for, by the human
sacrifices which they made to their idols, who were nothing but devils,
they would be led to hell, where eternal fire would torment their
souls." For the present Cortes said nothing further to them respecting
their idols, as he had often before spoken to them concerning these.

In answer to all this, they said to Cortes: "Malinche, we have heard all
this from you on former occasions, and willingly believe that this your
God and this illustrious woman are right good beings. But you should
reflect how very recently you have arrived in our country, and you have
but just entered our city. You should certainly give us time to learn
more of your doings, manner of behaviour, and nature of your gods; and
when we shall have satisfied ourselves respecting their qualities, we
shall certainly make choice of those we consider best. How can you ask
us to abandon our gods whom we have adored for so many years, and prayed
and sacrificed to them? But if we should even do so to please you, what
would our papas, our young men, yes, even our boys, say to it? Believe
us, they would all rise up in arms. The papas, indeed, have already
spoken to our teules, who have told them not to abolish our human
sacrifices, nor any other of our ancient customs, otherwise they would
destroy our whole country by famine, pestilence, and war."

We might conclude from this straightforward and fearless answer, that it
would be useless to insist any longer on this point, and that they would
rather allow themselves to be killed than abolish their human