Jatunmayo, The Great Wanka Warrior (Part TWo) A Poem

Jatunmayo,
The Great Wanka Warrior
(Part Two)

In the seventh century, in the Mantaro Valley of Peru, surrounded by the Andes, lived the unconquerable Wanka warriors, likened to the Spartans of Greece, or Gladiators of Roma. Not even the Inca could subdue them, without the help of the Conquistadores of the 15th Century, and thus, the Conquistadores enslaved the Inca along with the Wanka as well. But this is a story about Jatunmayo, as he called himself, who hunted down his equal and they fought a great fight to see who should carry the name of the Greatest of Wanka Warriors in the valley at that time. And this is the story (Part two to the Wanka Warrior Saga):



The Clash and the Great Effort


“And the flesh I took it as necessary—out of the inner bowels—swiftly
casting it aside; then from the neck and shoulders two pieces of flesh;
above his elbow joint, I cut deep into his muscle with my knife,
his right hand, I took his fingers as he tried to stop the plunge—,
and from his flanks I cut out fat, and yet he was still not dead!
He was but a caucus when I was through, but he still lived…!
“(until when, I cut his throat…then he died!)…


The Defeat and Aftermath

“I cast his bones into the deep of the trees but the branches caught them,
a portion of his body now lay exposed, outside the rim of the woods.
I, who killed this warrior, marked him so, claimed his hide and his soul;
I left his shoulders, head and sides to the great Wanka God, Carhuancho…
“(the rest he left for the condors).
It was a great hunt between he and I, blow to blow, four hours the scuffle;
wealth by wit is what it was, we were the strongest of grips, in Jatunmayo.”



Written in the Mantaro Valley of Peru, 8-13-2007.