The Fair God or: The Last of the \'Tzins A TALE OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO (1873) From Mexico ... a civilization that might have instructed Europe was crushed out.... It has been her [Spain\'s] evil destiny to ruin two civilizations, Oriental and Occidental, and to be ruined thereby herself.... In America she destroyed races more civilized than herself.—DRAPER, Intellectual Development of Europe. INTRODUCTORY Fernando De Alva,a noble Tezcucan, flourished, we are told, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was a man of great learning, familiar with the Mexican and Spanish languages, and the hieroglyphics of Anahuac. Ambitious to rescue his race from oblivion, and inspired by love of learning, he collected a library, availed himself of his knowledge of picture-writing, became master of the songs and traditions, and, in the Castilian language, composed books of merit.