The King and The Cannon

 

It wouldn’t be entirely wrong, if it was said that there was no one happier and jollier than Alejendro Martinez in Tenochititlan after the Crown of Spain took over and changed its name to Mexico City, and made it the capital of New Spain in 1521. Mexico City had had a long history before, which was more evident when considered that the name of the city was also changed by the Spaniards. Before that time, the Aztecs were ruling them until they were defeated by the Spaniards. New Crown meant new rules and new way of life. But everything that took place hardly impacted Alejendro Martinez, the only king who agreed to go with the Spaniards.

Alejendro Martinez who had passed forty-five years of his life in Tenochtitlan as a ruler of a small province, was gearing up with the new Crown to change things in his province. Unlike the other kings and rulers, Alejendro was loved by the people of his province which comprised of a mix of indigenous and local natives. His popularity was one of the reasons for the Crown of Spain to offer him a small kingdom in their rule. The truth was that even the Spaniards didn’t consider Alejendro dangerous or harmful to their rule. The positive and jolly nature of the king went along very glowingly with everyone.  It also didn’t come as a surprise when people were told that King Alejendro Martinez was the only one who hadn’t fought even a single war or fight with any other ruler or crown. Like anyone else, the Spaniards knew very little of Alejendro’s family history. Only the people visiting his small palace would be the evidence to the hand drawn portraits of his ancestors. Alejendro had always been a lover of nature and this aspect of his made him make early morning rounds of his province. He could be heard complimenting to his royal entourage   about the beauty of the nature during the early morning rounds. The locals welcomed the royal entourage, which was followed by an interaction in between the king and the people of the province. Though Alejendro had the power to make decisions but the Crown of Spain had to be intimated about all the interactions and the promises made by the king. However, this aspect hardly bothered the good-hearted king.

Alejendro was good looking, tall and handsome. He had a reasonably good built that was natural rather than artificial. His handsome looks were creamed by his polite nature. Britishers would surely have termed him as a Gentleman. The king was very popular among the females of his Palace and the province. But unlike other kings, Alejendro always knew the limits, which was the result of the teachings by his grandmother. Alejendro was unmarried as he believed that until you find your match you cannot get settled with any female just by mere compromise or arrangement.

Though under the other provinces, the indigenous people did not live a satisfied life, Alejendro made sure that there were no complaints on their part in his province.  During that time there were far heard events of the local population being tuned into forced labour for various infrastructure monolithic constructions. Alejendro made it clear to the people that if people worked, they would be paid handsomely. As the word of mouth about the good-hearted nature of King Alejandro spread, more and more natives from far off regions came to Alejendro’s province to take accommodations. Over a period of time King Alejendro maintained a good relation with both the Crown and his own people. The goodness of the king made the lives of his people reasonable enough to live off.

It was during this period that the Crown of Spain had made quite a number of deliveries of Cannons for the protection of the cities and palaces. The Cannons which were transported by the sea over a period of many months from various destinations had finally reached the port. From there, those were transported to Mexico City.  Few cannons were allocated for Alejendro as well, though considering the size of his province those would have fallen short in case there was a war. The cannons, four in all, which arrived at King Alejendro’s palace, were a set of monstrous equipment for the people who never had seen anything like it. Not surprisingly, even Alejendro was excited to see the cannons. It was decided that each of the cannons would be pulled up on one side each of the palace thereby covering all the four sides which meant that one cannon would be placed at each corner of the palace. It intrigued Alejendro when one of the cannons was placed on the palace terrace corner which faced a sea. He wondered how he would eventually use the cannon on the sea. Perhaps, if there was an attack through the sea, he thought. The monstrous sized cannons had taken more than one month to be pulled up at their expected locations on the palace terrace. Alejendro was proud of himself. He had four cannons in his Palace which he could use, but often asked his royal advisors when they would use them as his province had never gone into war with anyone. Perhaps, the Spaniards had some plan, the kind king thought.

Over the next few days. Alejendro’s sleep was disturbed. Most of the time he kept thinking about the cannons. Sometimes he just walked out of the Palace and looked at the cannons by standing outside the palace boundary. Some fortnights later, Alejendro grew impatient. The problem which was finally figured out was that the King was eager to know how to the use the cannon. It was his curious nature to know new things.  The fact that some monstrous equipment had arrived in his palace and he was unaware about its method of use was making him restless and impatient like a ten-year-old boy. The cannons had become an attraction even for the people staying around the Palace area. They would often stand outside their houses and look at the monstrous cannons. The gunpowder blocks which were to be used in the cannon was kept in steel buckets near each of the cannons.

One early morning when the King’s assistants went into his room to wake him up, they were surprised to not find him there. They searched the room but to no avail. The king wasn’t even found on the floor. The assistants informed the King’s advisor and other members of the Palace. Everyone started a search for their beloved king. Some of the assistants could be heard saying about some curse which made people disappear. The entire search team which consisted of the royal advisors, courtesans, assistants and soldiers searched the entire Palace and the rooms. By mid-morning, news had spread to the people in the province that the King was not within confines of the palace. The locals started to look out in the province for their beloved king.

It was not until evening when a young man by the name of Marques Alamilla arrived at the gate of the Royal Palace. The entire search team arrived at the gate by then. Marques informed that last night when it must have crossed one hour after mid night, he had come out of his hut to feel the cold air and it was at that time that he heard a noise coming from the top of the Palace. At that moment when the sound was heard, Marques informed that he had seen some smoke from the east side top corner of the Palace. One of the Royal advisors ran towards the Palace terrace upon which others followed. Marques stood at the gate unable to understand the confusion. The entire team reached the Palace terrace and went to the east side corner.

As all reached there, everyone looked at the Cannon and the gun powder which was scattered all around it. It seemed as though someone had fidgeted with the cannon and its placement. One of the advisors found one of the Diamond rings at the spot which the King would often wear before his sleep in one of the fingers in his right hand to keep evil away during the night. The senior Royal advisor, Cardozo, looked all around and then towards the round oval ground which was in front of the Palace. Looking back at the Cannon, he observed some foot marks in front of the Cannon. Gun powder was spread all over the Cannon too. By this time, Cardozo had guessed the reason for the King’s sudden disappearance.

Cardozo looked towards the sky and then again on the terrace. He imagined it to be sometime during post mid night. He could imagine King Alejendro walking from his room to the terrace and towards this cannon with a fire light in his hand. Cardozo imagined the king picking up the gun powder blocks and putting it into the cannon. He guessed that King Alejendro must have stood in front of the cannon and put the fire stick into the cannon and with that King Alejendro disappeared from this world as the Cannon shot took him off into eternity. Knowing Alejendro, Cardozo correctly imagined that the King must have assumed that the shot would come out from the gap at the middle of Cannon and not from the point where he was standing.