"
Apparently this lady was in waiting, for in a minute she appeared before
the throne, an old and withered woman with beady eyes.
"Mother," said the Inca, "you were with the _Coya_ (that is the Queen)
who has been gathered to the Sun, when her boy was born, and afterwards
nursed him for years. If you saw it, would you know his body again after
he has come to middle age?"
"Aye, O Inca."
"How, Mother?"
"By three moles, O Inca, which we women used to call _Yuti_, _Quilla_,
and _Chasca_" (that is, the Sun, the Moon, and the planet Venus), "which
were the marks of good fortune stamped by the gods upon the Prince's
back between the shoulders, set one above the other."
"Man who call yourself Kari, are you willing that this old crone should
see your flesh?" asked Upanqui.
By way of answer Kari with a little smile stripped himself of his
broidered tunic and other garments and stood before us naked to the
middle. Then he turned his back to the Mother of the Nurses. She hobbled
up and searched it with her bright eyes.
"Many scars," she muttered, "scars in front and scars behind.
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