to
what was proposed to you, it appears, rather, that you are sleeping at
your ease in your palace. You act as if you did not notice what you
clearly see with your eyes. Hence for a long time the mandarins have
been very much troubled. We have seen rivers running with blood. Are
not all these matters of evil portent? There are indeed, other
disasters than the falling of the walls on the Tartar frontier. We
often sent memorials asking you to order that they be rebuilt; and at
last you sent two mandarins with two hundred thousand men to repair
them. They went out last year in the ninth moon. While on the way, for
some unknown reason, a quarrel arose among the men at midnight; and
in less than two hours more than eighty boats and over seven hundred
men were burned, besides the many who were drowned. All this augured
evil. And thus we sent you a memorial asking that you should give
audience on matters concerning the good government of the kingdom,
according to the will of Heaven. You answered, "Now it is cold, now
hot; I am indisposed and unable to do it; I shall choose another day
to go out, or you may choose it." We the mandarins, together, chose
the seventh day of the same moon, which was convenient. You, however,
did not answer favorably, but instead threw the memorial into the fire.

Furthermore, we learned from the province of Xansinque, this third
moon, that a man suddenly appeared dressed in yellow, with a green cap
[_bonete_], and a little fan of feathers in his hand. He called out,
"Vanlle (which is the name of the king here) [66] is a king without
a government, although he has ruled a long time. He is always asleep
in his palace, wherefore the kingdom is about to be lost. The men
of the people must perish of hunger, and the great captains must die
by the sword and the lance." With this he disappeared. The viceroy,
Chaien, and the mandarins were greatly terrified, and made vigorous
efforts to find him and to learn who he was and where he lived,
but they never found further trace of him.

And now, when we learn of the calamities of all the provinces, when
from all of them we hear news of the great famine being experienced,
and when we see that many renowned mandarins, captains, and soldiers
have been killed in this war, we are well able to understand that this
man was an omen from Heaven, and the whole affair causes fear. If you,
our king, wish to go forth to encounter the Tartars you cannot do so
unless you have