Shortly after the birth of these children their parents died, and the boy and girl were left in the care of their grandfather, Cocapac.  The nature of this latter appears to have been extraordinarily calculating and astute.  He saw in the children a phenomenal opportunity for the glorification of his family.  First of all he instructed the youngsters for years in the playing of their parts; then, when adult, he took them to Cuzco and posted them on the side of a mountain of that important district.  After this he went among the tribesmen, and announced that the Sun-god had sent two of his children to govern the race as a special mark of his favour.  The Indians streamed out to the point he indicated as their resting-place, and, sure enough, they found the strangers at the spot.

To the chagrin of Cocapac, however, the tribesmen refused to accept them in the light of gods; on the contrary, they condemned the pair as a wizard and a witch, and banished them from the neighbourhood.  Cocapac, undaunted by this failure, accompanied his grandchildren, and repeated his performance on the shores of Lake Titicaca.  Here complete success marked the attempt:  the young people were received by the Indians with enthusiasm as the children of their god, and, once established, the belief spread all round, until it included all the centre of the Inca Empire, not excepting the once sceptical Cuzco.  To quote from Stevenson: 

“Thus,” said the Indians, “was the power of the Incas established, and many of them have said that, as I was an Englishman, I was of their family.  When H.B.M. ship Breton was at Callao, some of the officers accompanied me one Sunday afternoon to the Alameda at Lima.  On our way we were saluted by several Indians from the mountains, calling us their countrymen and their relations, begging at the same time that we would drink some chicha with them.”

It is unnecessary to point out the dubiousness of this theory!  For all the obvious difficulties in the way of credibility, the main story has a certain convincing ring, if for no other reason than the utterly prosaic attempt at an explanation of the alleged miraculous and mystical episode of the native mythology.

In the course of time the Inca Empire had sent its wave of influence and dominion to roll widely to the north and to the south.  In the north its government extended beyond Quito; in the south its progress had been arrested by the warrior Indians of Southern Chile, the Araucanians on the banks of the River Maule.

On the whole, the rule of the Incas over the conquered races was beneficent, and these latter, sensible of the advantages offered them, were quite willing to weld themselves into the common Empire.  Almost the sole respect in which they showed themselves merciless was in the manner in which their religious sacrifices were carried out.  The Sun frequently proved himself greedy of human blood, and he was never stinted by his priests; human life, indeed, in the more populous centres was held rather more cheaply than is usual among people who had attained to the civilization of the Incas.