When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the New World, they found a flourishing civilization firmly in place in the form of the Aztecs of Mexico. Within a short time, the Spanish had destroyed this civilization and eradicated much of its culture. In addition to the desire for conquest, gold, and similar purposes, the conquistadors were grossly offended by the idolatry of the Aztecs and by one particular religious practice, that of human sacrifice. As Leon-Portilla notes in his book The Broken Spears, the story of the conquest has been told entirely from the point of view of the conquerors, and he offers in his book the account from the side of the conquered peoples, the first of them written only seven years after the conquest:
These writings make up a brief history of the Conquest as told by the victims, and include passages written by native priests and wise men who managed to survive the persecution and death that attended the final struggle (viii).
A reading of this account reveals the attitude toward both Cortes and Montezuma and their courage or cowardice, as seen by the native peoples.
Cortes sees the Mexican people as courageous in battle, something he says he has gathered from those he has met along the way. Cortes in effect challenges the group sent to meet him to a day of combat with his soldiers so that he can see who is brave and who is not. The fact that the Mexicans run away may be seen as evidence of their cowardice by Cortes, but it is not--they were sent on a specific mission and they mean to carry it out by returning with their knowledge to Montezuma (28). The terror experienced by Montezuma is also not a sign of cowardice but ignorance--the description given him by his men is about strange animals and other marvels, and neither he nor they have any idea what these things mean or whether they are natural or supernatural. People living so close to nature are puzzled by anything that does not fit the...