CHAPTER IV
THE PACCARI-TAMPU MYTH
There is a myth which was told to all the Spanish authors by their native informants, and is retailed by them with some variations, the most authentic version being that officially received from the Incas by Sarmiento. While the Titicaca myth was obviously invented to account for the ancient ruins and statues, and has no historical value, the Paccari-tampu myth is as certainly the outcome of a real tradition, and is the fabulous version of a distant historical event.
We are taken to the country of refuge at Tampu-tocco, where one side is protected from invasion by the deep gorge of the Apurimac. The fugitives of long ages back had multiplied. The descendants were more civilised, therefore more powerful than their neighbours, and the time had come for the acquisition of better and more extensive territory. The idea of windows in the following myth was perhaps suggested by the word Tocco, the meaning of which is a window in Quichua. The district is called Paccari-tampu, or the 'Tavern of the Dawn,' in the legend, and Tampu-tocco is
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